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THE LIFE 



OF 



WlUJAl^^^NGUSI^ 

THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE for 

VICE PRESIDENT OF 

THE UNITED STATES. 




PvBiLicATioM Officb, 504 Walnvt St.^ P H I L A BKLPK I J 



l^ 



■{ 



E^lg^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

CHARLES S. KEYSER. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



rCRQUSON BROS. & CO., 

PRINTERS AND ILECTROTYPERS, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



The real power of a nation is seldom either the King, Emperor or 
President ; it is the prime-minister or the secretary of state ; such 
men as Bismarck, Beaconsfield, Gladstone, Seward, Stanton and 
Stevens were, or are, the real heads of their nations. In this election 
it may be, for the first time, a Vice-President. Winfield Scott Han- 
cock sympathizes with those wayward sisters who are sitting around 
the steps of the Capitol soliciting charity; but Mr. English is a man 
without sympathies, he means to make his party a power, and to 
make that power felt by its Northern enemies. With him it is busi- 
ness ; he has faced an outraged constituency before for his party ; 
and he will face the whole North for that Democracy once more, 
and the people will waken up to the fact after his election, as the peo- 
ple of Marion county have long since done, that they have a live man 
at their head once more. 

It was a desperate emergency for the Democrats at Cincinnati — de- 
feated once more they were defeated forever. Tilden, their last summer 
rose, was too far gone to be available, and there seemed no hope. It 
was then an Irishman sprang to the head of their divided and continu- 
ally beaten forces — the late Southern slaveholders, and free-traders, 
the fossil Germans of Berks county, the rag, tag and bobtail every- 
where, and, with the voice of a clarion, rang out Hancock's name 
and got the echo from the country. It was a wise stroke of policy ; 
not since their nomination of a life-long Republican has anything 
been done so well calculated to deceive the masses ; they had before 
nominated a Union officer, McClellan, and failed ; they had nomi- 
nated a solid Republican, Greeley, and failed ; they had nominated a 
Reformer, Tilden, and failed ; now they nominated once more a 
Union officer — it was their last opportunity ; they must not fail ; and 
it did seem to them only requisite to keep the Southern Sailors 
securely stowed beneath the hatches so that their gray clothes could 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

not be seen, and to run up the Union flag, and there was nothing to 
obstruct their old iron-clad, which had been lying on the flats for 
twenty years, from running up the Potomac to Washington ; but when 
the hurrah was over, the convention began to look at this wild Irish- 
man, and to consider the end. They were without money ; Hancock 
was respectable, eminently respectable ; but he was poor ; they were 
all poor; they had been outside so many days; they conferred 
together and all said we must have money ; and then and there they 
sold themselves and their party to William H. English—the man who was 
hung in effigy by the free people of Indiana for his political baseness, 
and will be hung in effigy again for his cruel money exactions — and 
whose record has been such that, for his personal safety, he sleeps in an 
iron-grated room. It was a stupid thing for them to do, although 
driven to it by poverty. They got a Union officer for their figure- 
head (not one of the Grant or Sherman kind), but still a Union 
officer — a man for whom many would vote, for all his sympathies be- 
cause he wears the bullion of the nation. Why must they then go the 
way of the suicide in the seeming arms of victory ; for such a man as 
English cannot and ought not to receive a vote in all this Northern 
country. 

It is said of the Democratic party that it would be successful if it 
did not, while in the crisis of its success, make some fatal blunder. 
That is true, but it always does and always will blunder. It is the 
descendant of an illustrious line, but which run out years ago and left 
instead of the high intelligence of Jefferson and the iron will of Jack- 
son, such representatives as Pierce — the old Turveydrop Buchanan, 
and then a crop of protoplasms — good enough in their way, but in 
whom the people had little or no confidence, and who were all mis- 
carriages and never came to the period of their birth as presidents. 
There was the slow little Mac, who attained a local celebrity in Phila- 
delphia, and the sandy bottoms of New Jersey, and the sympathy of 
his side, whatever that was, of the country. Then there was Greeley, 
who, when he reached his dotage, strove to be born again out of the 
loins of that party, and failed — he was too great a man to pass 
through the crevices of the Democratic platform. Then there was 
Tilden, who failed after parturition, because he had neither soul nor 
body, nor the party will enough, to go through the necessary surgery. 
It must blunder. The continuance of its existence is a blunder. 



The Life of William H. English. 



At the close of the war Indiana, in common with the whole 
line of Northern "States, exhibited a record of patriotism, pros- 
perity, and material progress worthy of the highest place in the 
annals of nations. This State, the most commendable, because 
among her free sister States, the high patriotic spirit of her 
people struggled from first to last with bold and vindictive men 
within its borders intent to destroy the nation, and, though few 
in number, dangerous and destructive. Her contributions to the 
military service were, under the first call of the President, 59,431 
men ; and in infantry, cavalry, and artillery, down to September, 
1863, 97,987 men ; and to the close of the war her contributions 
to the volunteer service and to the regular army and navy were 
195,147 men. For the families of the soldiers, and for bounties 
in sixty-eight counties of the State, there was raised by volun- 
tary contribution ^3,500,000; and to the Sanitary Commission 
there was contributed in money and supplies, through the war, 
^469,446 ; the interest on her whole debt was paid regularly, 
and all through that crisis of the nation's life the credit of the 
State was fully preserved, and at no period in her whole history, 
after all this expenditure of the money of her people, did the 
credit of the State ever stand financially so high. There were, 
however, some men who, though not of the open supporters, 
the plotters to burn their towns and cities, had hung half-way 
down on to the old dogmas of slavery to the last, and whose 
souls were bound with one idea: to enrich themselves out of the 
bounteous harvest of the laborers of the State. The subject of 
this biography was one of these, and his course of life after 

(5) 



V, 



6 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

1863 — in this connection — constitutes one of the two dark 
chapters which complete his Biography ; but before giving the 
details of either it will be interesting to know something of his 
personal appearance, locality and style of his residence, and 
what seems to be in his case a matter of importance — his 
ancestry. 

HIS ANCESTRY. 

A philosophic writer ' says, "As an element of character, and 
one which all good persons recognize as essential to greatness, 
no one can be named as well calculated to inspire respect, as a 
profound veneration for ancestors." A sentiment which is most 
touchingly illustrated by one of our greater fellow-citizens, at 
the tomb of Adam, our common ancestor.^ If it indeed were 
possible to breed men as we do horses, and if there was rather 
more certainty about their real pedigree, we might very surely 
illustrate our greatness by these profound venerations ; but as it 
is with many great horses, many men have had no ascertainable, 
or at least very uncertain pedigrees ; and as is true of those 
horses, men, taken out of the cart, so to speak, often exhibit 
qualities which quite distance those whose feed was " gilt oats," 
or who spent much of their time contemplating the graves of 
their ancestors. However, William H. English had a father and 
a mother in the regular domestic way ; and they had fathers and 
mothers who died and were buried. Mr. English erected grave- 
stones over them. 

This one element essential to greatness he therefore has, and 
the sole question is, had he that " greatness " called for by the 
theory. Theodore Parker divides greatness into two classes. 
The one the greatness as of the Saviour which, like diverging 

« Colonel J. W. Forney's Life of William H. English, an appendage to his Bio- 
graphy of Winfield Scott Hancock. 

'The tomb of Adam, how touching! It was here in the land of strangers, far 
away from home and friends, and all who cared for me, thus to discover the grave 
of a blood relative; the unerring instinct of nature thrilled its recognition; the foun- 
tain of my filial affection was stirred to its profoundest depths, and I gave way to 
tumultuous emotion. I leaned upon a pillar and burst into tears. I deemed it no 
shame to have wept over the grave of my poor dead relative. Noble old man ; he 
did not live to see me — he did not live to see his child. — Mark Twain. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 7 

lines, broadens forever through the centuries, a light at first 
feebly beaming from a stable, and finally illuminating the whole 
earth ; and the other the greatness which lies, as between paral- 
lel lines, whose influence is confined and exhausts itself, within 
the living generation. Mr. English's greatness, let us say, what- 
ever it is, is of the latter sort, and is confined within the living 
generation. His ancestors were the true Southern stock. His 
grandfather and grandmother, on his father's side, were born in 
the State of Delaware, where the whipping-post still survives, 
and died in Kentucky, the dark and bloody ground. His grand- 
father, on his mother's side, served in the 4th Virginia Regiment 
of the Revolution ; and his grandmother, on his mother's side, 
was born in Winchester, Va. He was of the Eustis family, which 
was out of the first families of Virginia, connected with the Far- 
quhars, and she with the Hite family — the Hites, the Eustis, 
the Farquhars and the Lees, and indeed all the others in that 
country, being connected with each other ; and his own mother, 
whose name was Mahala, was born in Fayette county, in Ken- 
tucky ; so that as far as pedigree is concerned, there were no 
mudsills in his family. The family got to Indiana at last, and 
down to the hard pan there ; and he started life on the 22d of 
August, 1822, in that State. He said of himself, on the floor of 
Congress, " My father and grandfather were Democrats : that 
was the chief inheritance they left me." He was born, therefore, 
a very poor boy, but such men do not remain poor. He started 
out as a public character ; he had had a good education, three 
years in the University of South Hanover, and got to the bar in 
1840. 

The careers of Mr. English as statesman and financier begin 
together. He was brought to Washington, in 1847, by Jesse D. 
Bright, of his State, the Gamaliel of the gospel of slavery, who 
obtained him a clerkship in the Second Auditor's office, at a sal- 
ary of $1,400 a year. These were the honest days when that 
Democratic party was in power, and they had then a divide 
among themselves. They had obtained a new State for slavery, 
a principality in size, and, like most principalities, crushed down 
with debt. The Texas stock was worth from ten to fifteen cents 



8 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

on the dollar. They formed a syndicate. The subject of this 
biography was Jesse D. Bright's engineer, and he himself invested 
in the operation his salary. 

They got the money. The Northern States — for there was 
where the money was mostly made — paid the debt dollar for 
dollar to the holders of these claims. The poor boy was then 
one step forward up the ladder's gilded rounds. 

He lost no time. With the plunder he went on shaving his 
fellow-clerks five, ten, and fifteen per cent, a month, which he 
held for futures, and which they let drop in bagnios and in strug- 
gles in the arena. He had gotten together a good pile for a 
poor boy, when, Taylor coming in, he was let out of the office, 
and went back home. 

He now had money, and returned again as the representative 
of his State on the floor of Congress, where he remained up to 
and through the Thirty-sixth Congress, the slaveholder's ally, 
leaving his old co-worker, Jesse D. Bright, to be expelled for 
treason : all the others with whom he worked and voted having 
gone before to engage in their desperate struggle to destroy the 
Union. Then leaving the legislative halls, he sought a position 
among the financiers of the country. His political record is 
altogether with the Kansas and Nebraska legislation, 

HOW HE LOOKS AND WHERE HE LIVES. 

William H. English is about five feet nine inches in height. 
His head would be bald but for an arrangement by which the 
side hair is brought up to the front like the horns of the Moses 
of Angelo, flattened down — unlike that Moses, however, his 
head shelves upwards. He has clear, gray eyes and a full white 
beard, dyed black. He wears a black broadcloth coat and 
trousers, and a silk cravat, a felt hat, red stockings and low 
shoes. He lives in a large mansion called the Governor's 
House. It is a brick, double, two stories, with a high, square 
tower; the room in which he sleeps is a kind of cage, and its 
window presents the appearance from the street of the window 
ot a jail. It is of heavy barred iron. He is building an opera 
house and theatre, a fine structure, having his name in the 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 9 

party-colored tiles of the roof. It is part of a frontage owned 
by himself, in which Is the residence of his son, who is to be its 
manager; it opens this fall with Mr. Barret, in the celebrated 
play, the Merchant of Venice. 

KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. 

To the 23d day of January, 1854, there was a barrier set 
against slavery which had remained undisturbed for thirty-four 
years. It was the thirty-sixth parallel ; north of that line the 
shackles of the slave fell. It was his place of refuge, and was 
now to become the citadel of freedom for the whole North and 
the nation. In the debates which began on the floor of Congress 
in the whole legislation relating to Kansas, from the hour the sub- 
ject came before the Thirty-third Congress, Mr. English was a 
participator. He was more: he was a secret, silent worker for 
the ruin of the nation. He was then a member of the Committee 
on Territories. This committee was charged with the considera- 
tion of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He was its firm supporter. 
Whatever he said elsewhere he was a believer in its principles^ 
and acted on them through his whole career and this whole 
legislation. He not only gave it the support of his vote and 
voice on the floor of the House of Representatives, but (and I 
use his own language) labored for it many days and nights ia 
the House as a member of the Advisory and Vigilance Com- 
mittee which called into being that bill in caucus, whose pas- 
sage inaugurated the struggle for our liberties throughout the 
nation. He said, May 9th, 1850: "The citizens of my State 
have no sickly sentiment about slavery. They believe negroes 
are but little better off in a state of freedom in the North, than 
in a state of slavery at the South. If a slave escapes into Indi- 
ana we give him promptly up to his master. The great mass 
of the North will stand firm by the side of their Southern 
brethren in support of the principles of non-intervention and of 
popular sovereignty " — meaning the right to drive slaves 
there. 



lO WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

THE FINAL STRUGGLE ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS. 

The bill for the organization of the Territories of Nebraska 
and Kansas came up before the House of Representatives May 
22d, 1854. The House met at twelve, and Mr. Milburn, the 
blind preacher, appropriately made the prayer. He invoked "the 
high and mighty Ruler of the universe to let his blessing rest 
on the House, to keep the members calm, and to encourage 
the weak to do their duty in this most arduous and memorable 
struggle the country had ever known." It was no use. There 
were desperate endeavors, there was the crack of the lash and 
the crouchmg white slave; there was no hour, in all that des- 
f>erate day, of calmness or reason. The political sale of the new 
Territories was to be made there, and was made. 

The work began quietly with a report from the Committee on 
Post-Offices. Then Mr. Pratt, of Connecticut, got in his warn- 
ing resolution from his State — the resolution from Connecticut — 
that the public faith had been pledged to the Missouri Compro- 
mise in perpetuity. That they protested against the repeal of 
the prohibition of slavery, in the act of 1820, as a violation of 
the national faith, as a destruction of confidence between the 
States and the Union, as inconsistent with the fundamental 
rules of national justice, and exposing the Union itself to immi- 
nent peril. They declared that they would never consent to the 
legal or actual admission of slavery into that Territory. Then 
the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole. The 
true battle now began. That other Vice-President's (Stephens) 
rifle's crack was heard in the first skirmish line. There were 
calls to order. Mr. Chandler, of Pennsylvania, came into the 
fray early, saying : " If I could see the ramparts of order once 
asserted — " and Mr. Orr struck him down with the answer of 
the slaveholders, "This is order — strict conformity with the 
rules." Then the din of battle began. There were calls for 
order everywhere. Our representatives sought to kill the bill with 
amendments. 

Mr. Rogers : " I desire to add an amendment to the bill." 

Mr. Sage, of New York: " I desire to offer an amendment to 
the amendment." 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ,1 

Mr. Dickinson, of New Hampshire: "I desire to offer an 
amendment to the bill." 

Mr. Dickinson, of New Hampshire: "I ask to have the bill 
read." 

So, one after another, obstructions were rushed forward to the 
front and were laid away in the silences by the superior fire of 
their adversaries. At last that other Vice-President (Stephens) 
forced himself to the front with his amendment to strike out the 
enacting words of the bill. It was now reaching the point of 
violence. Mr. Dean, of New York, amid the confusion, shouted 
out : " Let no man vote here. Oppose tyranny by revolution ! " 
Mr. Richardson, for the slaveholders, moved that the committee 
rise. The vote was taken; the committee rose. Then came, 
amid great confusion, a motion to adjourn, men rising all over 
the floor; questions of order, questions of privilege; motion 
after motion to adjourn to Wednesday, to adjourn to Monday, 
to adjourn — a desperate struggle to put off the evil day, once 
more, that was to inaugurate a revolution. 

There was a vote taken on one of the motions to adjourn — 
1 36 to 68. There were motions for a call of the house — all de- 
feated. The battle goes on. It is now a fight between the 
house and the chair, with cries of " order " once more ; but clear 
above the din a cry that grew stronger and stronger, " the ques- 
tion." The whole Northern country was waiting the dread 
result that must come. 

And now, once more, motions for a call of the house, and to 
adjourn, and once more a struggle with the chair — three appeals 
pending at one time. The hours wore on. There were calls for 
yeas and nays and motions to adjourn, and again appeals from 
the decision of the chair, yeas and nays, and all the tactics of 
that sort of battle ; and then once more, clear and high above 
the din of the voices, like the voices of fate, the prolonged cries 
of " the question," a lull of silence, a motion to adjourn. Once 
more a vote is gained on Stephens' bill — they refuse to concur 
in the report of the committee of the whole, striking out the 
enacting clause of the bill. 

Mr. Richardson, for the slaveholders, now forces in his motion 



12 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

to amend; it was read. The walls were narrowing steadily 
around the free-State men. It would make that great open 
ground, with its exhaustless earth and free clear skies, the Terri- 
tory of Nebraska, slave territory; it was to break the barrier 
down which had stood there for a generation, and by its provi- 
sions the act for the recapture of fugitive slaves, as it was then 
through our States everywhere, should be enforced there ; and 
that other great tract whose boundaries were Missouri, New 
Mexico — whose western lines ran west to Utah and along the 
.summits of the Rocky Mountains, and which was to be, should 
that motion prevail, the great battle-ground for human freedom 
once more, by that motion was likewise decreed to slavery. The 
slave-driver was to follow there, with his dogs, the fugitive slave. 
Mr. Richardson demands the previous question. The inevitable 
hour has come. It is seconded. Mr. Edgerton strives to get 
it into the committee of the whole. The chair overrules his 
point of order. The authority of the slaveholders reaches now 
to its uttermost. " I object to all discussion," said Houston of 
Texas. " I demand the yeas and nays." 

The yeas and nays were ordered, and then the dividing coun- 
try saw its representatives on either side, as the long line ran 
down, severing the representatives of the slaveholders from the 
representatives for the free States. William H, English was among 
the former. " I move the house do now adjourn," said Mr. Mor- 
gan. The yeas and nays were called. The solid South would not 
adjourn. The question for the second time is on the amendment. 
The closing walls are making there a ghastly atmosphere for our 
representatives ; the yeas and nays are ordered ; it is decided 
in the affirmative. The supreme moment has come. The ques- 
tion is now on engrossing the bill, and reading for the third 
time ; Mr. Wilson rises and moves to lay the bill on the table. 
There is now even yet time for those, standing on the verge of 
dishonor, to keep the record of their Northern names. The 
ayes and noes are called for the last time. With them he sets 
his name once more. The call for yeas and nays is repeated on 
engrossing the bill. Again he sets down his name. The dial's 
hand is now upon the closing hour of freedom's high decline. 



WILL/AM H. ENGLISH. I^ 

Will he hold by the slaveholders to the end ? He has never 
swerved; he will never swerve from that proud blood that 
blackens all his veins, and when the bell strikes, that summons 
his soul to God for judgment — nor will he blanch there. 

Mr. Hughes rose : " I ask now for the yeas and nays on the 
final passage of the bill." The end has come. He knows he will 
now face a State and nation's scorn, and see the burning fires 
licking with their snaky tongues his &^%y and the black lines 
round his name as a man dead to his State and country. He 
SETS IT THERE ONCE MORE. The act is done that gives the land 
to violence and death. 

The bill was approved May 30th, 1854. The intelligence was 
flashed over, and a ground-swell moved, the whole Northern 
country. There was a struggle to possess the soil. The barrier 
had been broken down for freedom and slavery, and the struggle 
began for a majority possession. It ended with the soil in the 
possession of the free majority, but the elections were carried by 
the same mode in which they were carried in Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, in Arkansas and other States this year. Open frauds, the 
slave whip and the shot gun gave the returns to the government. 
The free men of Kansas met at Topeka, November 2d, 1855, 
and formed their constitution. It declared : " There shall be no 
slavery in the State." " No religious tests shall be required for 
qualification for office." " Every citizen may freely speak his 
sentiments on all subjects." " The payment of a tax shall not 
be required as a qualification for the right of suflrage." From 
high to low, without religious, without political, without any 
distinction whatever, all men were admitted there upon the 
broad plane of a common humanity. The slaveholders met at 
Lecompton, November 7th, 1857. Their constitution declared 
" that the right of property is before and higher than any con- 
stitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such 
slave and its increase is the same, and as inviolable as the right 
of the owner of any property whatever," " Emigrants coming 
hither may bring with them their slaves." " Free negroes shall 
not be permitted to reside in this State under any circum- 
stances." 



1^ WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

The first of these constitutions was ratified by the fi-ee peo- 
ple of the State, December 15th, 1855, and the second by the 
slaveholders of the State, December 31st, 1857. Kansas had 
now become a vast camping-ground around this new fortress of 
liberty in the North. The Thirty-fourth Congress was organized 
for the first time with a freeman of the North for its Speaker. 
The President sent in his message with no words for its free 
spirit, no condemnation for the shot-gun policy there. A pro- 
slavery governor was sent there. The work had begun in real 
earnest. It was hard times there for Northern men, as it is in 
the South to-day. There was a dead line in front of every poll. 

October ist, 1855, there was an election for a delegate to 
Congress. It was conducted like the election in Alabama this 
year and with the same result — their man went there. Dead 
men on the icy ground that winter, and in many homes ; life was 
wholly insecure ; the declaration of sympathy for the slave was 
the gage of death. John G. Whittier wrote obituaries for their 
dead. Among them was one named Brown, who was brought 
home one night about midnight ; three gashes were cut in the 
side of his face with a hatchet ; he was exhausted, lingered an 
houi; or two and died : 

" Frozen earth and frozen breast. 
Lay your slain one down to rest, 

Lay him down in hope and faith; 
And above the broken sod, 
Once again, to freedom's God, 

Pledge yourselves for life or death. 

" Bear him up the icy hill 
With the Kansas frozen soil. 

As his noble heart below; 
And the land he came to till, 
With a freeman's thews and will. 

And his poor hut roofed with snow. 

" Lift your right hands up and vow — 
That his work shall still be done." 

While civil war was raging through the Territory the excite- 
ment was rising higher and higher through the country. The 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ij 

great speech of Mr. Sumner for the freedom of the coming State 
was made, and the fight was transferred to the Senate House 
itself. That representative of the North was struck bodily down 
(May 22d, 1856), bleeding and senseless from his wound, by 
a representative of the South. We were at the mercy of the 
slave power. Mr. Wilson denounced the outrage. The Democ- 
racy were silent. They stood there, North and South, as broth- 
ers of the slaveholders, and the masters of slaves. To one 
man's insidious power, amid the din of oratory and the violence 
of the times, no justice has been given. He stood there, head 
and front, before the rest, for the land of his ancestors and for 
their property in their slaves. He broke the silence of the 
Democrats. He went further: he rose (July 12th, 1856) and 
offered the following amendment to the resolution for the ex- 
pulsion of Preston S. Brooks : 

*' Resolved, That this House hereby declares disapprobation of 
the assault made by the Hon. Preston S. Brooks upon the Hon. 
Charles D. Sumner in the Senate chamber, May 22d, 1856, and 
the House deems this a fit occasion to express its disapprobation 
of the use of language in debate, o{ ^ character personally offensive 
to individuals, members of Congress, or to any of the States of 
tJie nation.'' 

He meant by this, denial of the right of free speech to the 
Northern representatives upon the question of slavery altogether. 
He failed ; but when the bill came before the House for Preston 
S. Brooks' expulsion he did not fail. The resolution read : 

''Resolved, That Preston S. Brooks be and he is forthwith ex- 
pelled from the House as a representative of South Carolina." 

And he was one of the ninety-five whose votes were given 
there, that murder in the interest of Democracy and slavery was 
justifiable. 

There were two counties in Indiana where there was still a 
place for him in those days. They were on the slaveholder's 
border, and he held them steadily there by his immense deter- 
mination, and came back to his place with the slaveholders once 
more. He could say on the floor (December 17th, 1856) : 

" I am proud of the party. I feel like clinging to it with the 



l5 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

affection of Ruth to Naomi, and may I not repel the charges 
brought against the consistency of her gallant Democracy ? It 
was in the ranks of my colleague only that the lowest and most 
God-forsaken, negro-stealing Abolitionists were found in this 
State, doing battle side by side with my colleague, the leader 
of the black Republican party." 

But he was there only because the plausible doctrine of 
squatter sovereignty had many advocates — although covertly a 
doctrine for slavery. — It had the same blinding effect on many, 
for a time, as the State-rights from which it had its origin. But 
for no other meaning or purpose than the perpetuity of slavery, 
was Mr. English again there like a successful conspirator, but 
whose mask would soon be wholly torn away. 

That winter he had but one purpose — the continued stifling 
of all discussion. In the same debate he said: 

" I always regret to hear the question of African slavery dis- 
cussed in these halls. In my humble judgment it would be 
wiser and better for Congress to consume less time in talking 
about this dangerous and delicate subject, and attend more to 
the legitimate business of legislation." 

It was not, in his opinion, right to talk about that question in 
which lay the future of both races for liberty or slavery, and in 
which it lies to-day as much as it did when Sumner was struck 
down. He said always, " the country demands peace," when, in 
fact, the war had begun in their own body. 

THE ENGLISH BILL. 

And now came on his final trial. He had gone from the 
House (two years ago with a host of followers — his craven col- 
leagues from the free States) to face the people. By his desper- 
ate determination he had come back once more, and he had 
come back to serve his masters for the last time, it might be 
forever. He stood there well nigh alone, but his cheek was un- 
blanched, his determination the same — he was with his blood 
and his inheritance then and now and forever. It was pathetic. 
It was almost like Wolsey, to hear his words. It was as if he 
were saying : " Had I served my God as I have served my king r 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. \*j 

*' My brethren," he said, " I went home to encounter an opposi- 
tion, of the fierce and vindictive character of which our Southern 
brethren can scarcely have a conception. We were denounced 
as dough-faces and traitors. Our names were paraded in large 
type enclosed in black lines, headed, ' the roll of infamy ; ' we 
were hung in effigy, and it should not be forgotten that when 
we men of the North went forward to encounter this fearful 
array of fanatics, this great army of Republicans and abolition- 
ists combined, you, gentlemen of the South, were at home at 
your ease. You went with the current, we against it. Sir, I 
am one of the old guard, never gave an opposition vote, never 
varied a shadow of a shade my Democratic principles ; but I 
tell you there are some things at the North we cannot do even 
if we had the disposition. Where are the men of the North who, 
at the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, were in this House ? 
I look around in vain : they are not here. The two gentlemen 
from Pennsylvania and myself are the spared monuments of 
mercy, being the only persons who voted for the bill who have 
retained seats on this floor. In the Senate but one Northern 
man is re-elected." 

The constitution of Kansas got the endorsement of the 
House the 29th of May. The Senate voted on it, and, with an 
amendment, the bill was returned. William H. English moved 
and carried (April 14th, 1858) a motion to agree to a committee 
of conference. He, Alexander H. Stephens and Howard, were the 
committee of the House. Their report came to the House as 
the " English bill," and on that rests his miserable name and 
fame in th^ legislation of the country. It followed the same 
course which ran through the thread of his many and very 
covert, submissive, and no less effective actions in the House. It 
was the sequence of his vote on the admission of the Territories, 
and on the expulsion of Brooks. It was his adhesion to his 
inheritance, and to his ancestors' blood, and to his cruel charac- 
ter. But he was sure of its results as he is always sure. On 
the 23d of April, 1858, he came into the House with Alexander 
H. Stephens, the future Vice-President of the confederacy ; and 
he, who is to be the future Vice-President of the Nation, when. 
2 



ig WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 

it comes once more under the rule of the same masters as it 
had that 23d day of April, 1858, brought in this bill. It pro- 
vided first, that sections sixteen and thirty-six shall be granted 
to the State of Kansas for the use of the schools ; seventy-two 
sections for the use of the free State ; ten entire sections to com- 
plete the public buildings ; all the salt springs in the State, five 
per cent, of all the sales of public lands for public roads — a 
magnificent territory larger than many principalities of Europe 
and worth, in its wealth of soil, still more than any of the Old 
World, But for this she must take the Lecompton constitution 
— SHE MUST DEVOTE THAT SOIL TO SLAVERY. She shall have the 
privilege to accept the Lecompton constitution, whose corner- 
stone is slavery. This was the final effort of the slaveholders. 
This bill, known as " the English swindle " and the ".Lecompton, 
Jr.," passed the House April 30th, by 112 to 103, and Senate 30 
to 22, and was signed May 4th. 

In that State to which this bribe w^as offered by the slave- 
holders about that time twenty-five free State men were arrested 
by the emissaries of the slaveholders. They were placed in a 
line and shot down in cold blood — 



' How paled the May sunshine, 
Green Marais du Cygne, 
When the death-smoke blew over 
Thy lonely ravine." 



William H. English had said to his constituents ^nd to the 
world, that he would rather sunder with his party than give the 
Lecompton constitution his vote, but he came that day carrying 
it in with all its enormities, and with a bribe to the people to 
have them accept its provisions. He had that kind of a soul to 
believe that they would accept the bribe. The shot-gun policy 
had failed them. He tries at last what another such gentleman 
did at Tarrytown in those other times that " tried men's souls." 
Mr. Crittenden, who was pro-slavery, said, " This bill says to the 
people of Kansas, ' if you will silence all complaint and denun- 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. I9 

ciatlons, if you will humiliate yourselves as freemen by your 
confession of as much baseness as that implies, then you may 
come into the Union.' It says, ' first submit yourselves to be 
slaves, and you will be made a part of the country.' " 

General Bingham, of Ohio, denounced it as a wrong, a crime. 
" It is a bribe to the people of this Territory. A lie cannot live 
forever, but it must at last perish. God is in history." Mr. 
Stewart said, " This creation of English's brain stands on noth- 
ing, either human or divine." Mr. Seward said, " It had equivo- 
cation in every line, and he warned the Democratic party that 
they would fail before the country." But the man with nerve 
prevailed. The House passed the bill. There was bribery then 
everywhere, without, no less than within, its walls. It was 
carried in the Senate the same day. So he completed the arti- 
cles of his faith, the trinity, (in which whatever his religion, he be- 
lieves,) of the slave power — the fugitive slave law, the suppres 
sion of debate in Congress, the Lecompton constitution. But 
Kansas refused the bribe. There was no traitor there among 
her freemen — death and poverty, but not slavery. 

June 29th, 1 86 1, Kansas comes into the Union with all the 
territory which English would have given her, sections and salt 
springs altogether, without a bribe, and without a slave. And 
the lie did not last forever — it did perish. God was in history — 
guarded with his embattled hosts that high outlook of liberty. 

February 26th, 1868, at Topeka, these Democrats, let us call 
them Democrats no more, resolved, " We are in favor of guaran- 
teeing to each State in the Union a Republican form of govern- 
ment under the free white race and with equal taxation." So 
five years after slavery should have been gone forever, they 
were still where they were — and yet, as inconsistent as ever, this 
year those Democrats have set up in Cincinnati Mr. English — 
his name for the Vice- Presidency — who pays no taxes at all, 

AND IS A WHITE MAN IN NO SENSE WHATEVER. 

" There are, however, some things at the North we cannot do, 
even if we had the disposition." Let us hope one of these things 
is, TO BUY ourselves the Vice- Presidency of this nation. 



90 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



The close of Mr. English's career in Congress was consistent 
with its beginning. March 26, i860, Mr. Blake offered this 
resolution : " Whereas the chattelizing of humanity and the 
holding of persons as property, is contrary to natural, and the 
fundamental principles of our political system, and is notoriously 
a reproach to our country throughout the civilized world, and a 
serious hindrance to republican liberty among the nations of the 
earth : Therefore, Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary 
be and the same are hereby instructed to inquire into the ex- 
pediency of reporting a bill giving freedom to every human 
being, and interdicting slavery wherever Congress has the con- 
stitutional powers to legislate on the subject." Mr. English, on 
the vote, said : " I was not inside the bar of the House when my 
name was called out ; had I been present I should have voted 
no." Mr. English so summarizes his political life, and pledges it 
to the old Southern Confederacy; and (January 3, i860), he said, 
in the course of his remarks on the floor of the House in 
defence of his bill (the English bill), " Sir : it has been well said 
of that party (Democratic party), that it was cradled in the storm 
and reared in tribulation, and I rejoice that it is never deterred 
from adopting a policy because it may run counter to popular 
PREJUDICE or excite violent opposition." If those were his 
views in i860, when the war was imminent, are they less his 
views in 1880? He continued, "I am the only member save 
two left on the floor of all who voted for the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill;" but yet, in a passionate appeal to the slaveholders, he 
continued : " It was not our property, our peculiar institutions, 
that were endangered, but we regarded you as brothers, and we 
are determined to stand by you in all your constitutional rights, 
and to join you in a war of political extermination against 
your foes. We have enlisted in its grand armies for the war. 
We enter the campaign prepared to die, if need be, in defence 
of the constitution and your rights; and we have stood like 
loyal and true men in defence of the common cause to this hour. 
But now a crisis approaches : we are on the eve of a great 
battle, headed, it may be, by the great leader of the irre- 
pressible conflict. If we have grown fewer in numbers, so 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISm 21 

much the greater reason you should not desert us, but stay with 
us in the Union, and fight with us side by side and shoulder to 
shoulder in maintaining the constitution of the fathers until we 
win the victory or perish in one common grave. Within the 
Union we Northern men are ready to stand or fall with you in 
such a cause — collectively as States it will be impossible for us 
to go out of the Union with you, and as individuals inadmis- 
sible, because it would involve immeasurable sacrifices, and a 
severance of the sacred tie which binds every man to his im- 
mediate country — it would tend to divide your own section, and 
alienate from you millions, and would probably result in their 
and your discomfiture, and would render powerless or gradually 
weaken your efforts should that time of real danger from overt 
acts ever come, when it would be your imperative duty to exer- 
cise that right which is reserved to every people when faults 
become too great to be longer tolerated — I say it in no spirit of 
fanciful comparison, but we can muster more at the ballot-box 
to vote down the sectional Republican party than you can at the 
South ; and we can muster more men with the cartridge- 
box, too, if it becomes necessary to resort to these to defend 
your constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of any 

PORTION OF the CONFEDERACY." 

They are now within the Union once more as he then 
advised. 

What will be his duty as a business man in the premises ? 
Will he not certainly pay them for their destroyed property ? 
Will he not resort to the cartridge-box, if it becomes necessary, 
to protect the rights of the Confederacy ? 

THE SOUTHERN WAR CLAIMS. 

There is nothing in the South as a military power. Our 
Northern country is what Prussia was after the Austrian war — it 
was Prussia and all Germany besides. We are, like that country, 
one nation, with all the force, energy and intelligence on the 
Northern side ; with a single duty before us : to complete eman- 
cipation there by civilization. 

But we may lose all these advantages by the dishonesty, craft, 



22 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

or sympathies of our own representatives. It is a crisis of the 
last importance to us. The South are determined to have their 
war losses settled. There is not a county in the old slave terri- 
toiy where the lists of emancipated slaves are not carefully made 
out, supported by sworn testimony, and filed away with as scru- 
pulous attention to preservation, as if they were United States 
bonds. They are the Southern currency of the future, con- 
vertible. Some of the State constitutions, as that of Virginia, 
expressly provide that the State shall not pay these claims, but 
that the payment may be accepted from the United States gov- 
ernment. It is the secret substratum underlying all their hopes 
for the future. This will be one of the earliest measures pro- 
posed to the Democratic administration, and will not be without 
specious arguments in its favor. They will say, that the pur- 
pose of the Southern slaveholder was not to destroy the nation, 
but to preserve his property in his slaves, and the whole record 
of their statesmen and soldiers in the Revolution will go far to 
sustain this assertion ; and they will also prove by their record 
during the rebellion that it was actually waged — except only 
through military necessity — on their own soil, and for the defence 
of that property alone ; and that it is the veriest pretence to evade 
compensation for their destroyed property to assert that it was 
lost in their attempt to destroy a government which they clung 
to until it had become a mere question : to remain, and have that 
property run away from them by irresponsible individuals, and 
legislated from them by strangling it with a cordon of free 
States around it ; or to preserve it by a peaceable secession, 
which was their right under the government and constitution, 
and must be the right of all governments founded on the con- 
sent of the governed. It will be further said that the right of 
property in their slaves was a right under the constitution, and 
stands upon the same basis, and is as valid, as the property of 
our Northern bondholders themselves ; and that it could not be 
impaired by a rebellion, by the express provisions of the consti- 
tution under which we live. 

They will go further : they will deny the fact of a rebellion. 
They will say, in the invasion of 1861, for that is what it will be 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 23 

denominated hereafter, the object of the North was not to pre- 
serve the Union, but to enfranchise their slaves; that the very- 
men — one of whom is now sitting in the cabinet at Washington 
— were, for years prior to the war, undermining the very struc- 
ture of the government, and declaring the sentences of the great 
Declaration, written by one of their statesmen, " a string of glitter- 
ing generalities;" that even in our pulpits, which had become 
platforms of political parties, it was declared, over and over 
again, there could be no property in slaves, and that the eulogy 
of the man who had invaded one of their States with the intent 
to free their slaves without compensation, was the central and 
continual battle-song of the whole Northern army, from the 
outset to the close of the war, and that the very State where 
the struggle began, has ordered his statue to be placed in the 
capital of the nation. And they will prove this by the assertion 
of "the great commoner," one of the great leaders of the 
country, Mr. Stevens, who said on the floor of Congress, that 
the whole war was carried on outside of the constitution. Nor 
will it be necessary to refer to the records of the war in proof 
of their assertion of its spirit and intention. In the late debate in 
Indiana, September 4th, 1880, the Hon. Franklin Landers, the 
Democratic candidate for Governor, said : " He (Mr. Porter, the 
Republican candidate for Governor) has said * this war was for 
the liberation of slaves.' Do you suppose that any man would 
have survived during the war who said so? (Cries of 'Yes! 
yes! and here is the man who said it!') I understand that the 
war was to maintain the constitution and the Union of the States ; 
and now, for a man to say that it was for the emancipation of 
slaves ! (cries of ' That was right! ') now, I say just this to-night, 
that if the war was a war against slavery, it was a war against the 
constitution of the country." 

If you say they cannot pay these claims because of the 
amendments to the constitution,' they will do what was done to 

'It is the opinion of Senator Edmunds that the Fourteenth Amendment does not 
interpose a harrier to the payment of claims founded on destruction of property by 
the United States forces, nor to pensions for Confederate soldiers — pensions do not 
stand on legal obligation, but are discretionary with Congress. 



24 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

get a favorable decision on the Legal Tender Act, they will pack 
the court, and their judges will declare that such an amendment 
is in contravention of law, and impairs the obligation of the 
most sacred contract between the individual and his government. 
' The very preparations for this result have gone thus far : a 
proposition is now before Congress to increase the number of 
Supreme Court judges from nine to twenty-one, the additional 
twelve of which are to come from the Southern States, and 
House Bill No. 3 1 3 1 , introduced by Mr. Hill, Democrat, of Ohio, 
provides for the abolition of the Court of Claims, and the enlarge- 
ment of the powers of the Circuit Court of the United States : 
this gives a right to any one having sustained a loss from the 
Union army, to come in and sue for the amount of his loss. 

HIS PROBABLE PROGRAMME FOR THE PACIFICATION 
OF THE COUNTRY. 

But our fears are not from them, but from our own camp; it 
is such cold-blooded, voracious, and unscrupulous men as 
William H. English, we have reason to fear, who would not 
hesitate to carry out a programme for those former slaveholders, 
more ruinous in the end for us and our civilization than their 
bondage was for our black brothers in labor. 

Men like Winfield Scott Hancock would go to Washington to 
do their duty to the country — they are simple soldiers, to kill or 
keep alive as they are ordered — they obey orders. The 
Southern leaders are born to give orders ; they have the habit 
of command : it is their inheritance. William H. English 
inherits that domineering slaveholder's blood. 

' Mr. Reagan, ex-Confederate Postmaster, and now chairman of the committee 
on commerce of our government, at the close of the war, held these views : that in 
the final adjustment the South should secure provision for the auditing of the debts 
of the Confederacy, and for its payment in common with the war debt of the United 
States, and this on the ground that they did not seek this war, but only sought a 
peaceful separation to secure their people and State from the effects of the unconsti- 
tutional encroachment of the other States. (Letter of John H. Reagan to Jefferson 
Davis. On file in the Department of State, Washington.) It is believed that this 
expresses the opinion of at least twenly-four chairmen of the several committees of 
the last Congress, all of whom were Confederate officers. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 2$ 

He reveres the memory of his ancestors as his most precious 
inheritance, and with these principles he has also the craft and 
shrewdness of a baser stock, and craves money and power ; and 
this would be his programme : he would say these claims (there 
is a frightful list of them) are just, and the necessity to settle 
them a common one for the whole country, for the business inter- 
ests of the country ; that the government should issue bonds ; 
and temporarily interest-bearing treasury notes for them, and on 
the basis of those bonds extend our banking system over the 
whole country. And such a measure he would argue would bring 
to its support the whole business interests of the country. He 
would say to the former slaveholders, " Establish banks largely 
everywhere through your States, get out your money from your 
banks among the people as rapidly as possible, and take col- 
laterals on the land held by our Eastern adventurers and your 
former slaves. You will thus create a tremendous boom in not 
only your, but the business of the whole country, as the result 
of this measure. This will last some years ; it will then be your 
policy to contract your money, it makes it scarcer and dearer, 
and in that way their obligations cannot be met. You then, 
to save yourselves and Institutions, will necessarily close in on 
them. This will be readily done, especially with the more sub- 
ject population, you have ; the blacks and the poor whites of 
your States; and in this way you re- obtain the land which was 
your own, and the question of freedom and slavery reduces 
itself to nothing ; they will be your tenantry, dispossessible, at 
will, and in this way you will regain your lost power. I am 
here to serve you, and complete the work of the pacification of 
the country; as in 1858, we will stand together where our 
ancestors were, I have tested the working of the whole, and it 
is practicable," 

And how would he write the President's messages; he would 
invoke in them humanity for that suffering and heart-broken 
people, " Give them," he would say, " a start once more in the 
career of a new and equal existence with ourselves. If we send 
food to Ireland, shall we ignore our own suffering ' brethren ? ' " 
That is the word he always used in his speeches before the war. 



26 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

" With charity for all, with malice toward none — let us," he 
would say, " build up the nation in justice." " It cannot," he 
would say, " be done in any other way." " Doling out money for 
yellow fever and other sufferers, does not meet this emergency." 
" There is but one way, and that is to give them the value of 
their ruined ancj lost property; lift them up from their desolate 
homes into the life and business of the age, in a business manner. 
Let them understand, at last, that we are brothers, in fact, as 
well as name. What would that debt be for our nation to 
carry ? " he would say ; " and how long would it be before those 
bonds would be at a premium, with a live instead of a dead 
brother hanging to our body ? They would then understand 
us, work with us, make instead of a country bound together by 
force and a remembrance of wars and ruin, one bound together 
by a common interest, a business interest — the business pros- 
perity of the country and of the whole country." 

He would say this is a business country and our work must 
be done in a business manner. We have tried subjugation 
and failed. War settles nothing. We have sent down thieves 
among them backed by soldiers to destroy their substance, and 
that failed. We have tried the policy of peace and conciliation 
for four years, and that failed. The South is more solid, and 
more hostile than ever. Why ? Because we have failed to 
do them justice. We remove their disabilities, but we do not 
repair their fortunes. It is as if we released a felon from a jail, 
without friends or home or money ; he must steal or starve. 
The Southern man will not steal, he will rather die. He should 
not die. Let us try then, last, what should have been tried first, 
and command the admiration of the world. We have the crown 
of praise for power ; let us gain the greater crown for magnan- 
imity. Make this one country, in fact as well as name; we 
want peace, we want rest, we want unity. Our country is a 
giant, but with a palsied arm ; let it not be stretched out to us 
forever in vain. By this one majestic act we will give ourselves 
and our age an immortality of fame. " Do this," he would say; 
" or utterly exterminate the old slaveholders at once and forever. 
There are but these two avenues for a lasting peace in the 
country." 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^j 



CAN THIS BE DONE? 



It can be done in one session of Congress; the resolution, com- 
ing before a powerful Democratic majority with the Republican 
minority thoroughly disheartened and broken down, would have 
but little opposition. The claims are now on file in the several 
States ; they are regular, excessive it may be, but for damages 
admitted to be done ; the bonds can be issued at first, or treasury 
notes, convertible, as at the close of the war ; which would most 
directly aid the business of the country. New banks could be 
established, or the capital of those we have, increased, and a great 
business boom would follow at once, to which the then astound- 
ing development of business through the war would be as noth- 
ing ; whose benefits would reach every farm in the country ; 
every business house ; the ships on the sea and the engines on 
the land ; the mines and manufactories ; everything would be in 
a ceaseless activity, and we would stand for the time, at the very 
summit of the world's luxury'. In the meanwhile the Supreme 
Court would be sitting with twenty-one judges, twelve of whom 
would be the chancellors of the old slaveholders; and they 
would decide the war unconstitutional, reaffirm the past financial 
with this legislation as just and irrevocable. So the work 
could be done. 

ITS EFFECT ON THE PARTY IN POWER. 

The result, after the first fury of the shock was exhausted, and 
it would exhaust itself, would be to preserve that party for a 
very long while in power, and for very pressing business reasons. 
The British debt has been, and is to-day, the strongest bulwark 
of the British government, because every man knows that if you 
touch the national credit there, in any one particular, the whole 
fabric of the government would totter to its fall, and men are 
more disposed to submit to evils while evils are sufferable, than 
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
accustomed. The whole financial interests of the country, the 
controlling interests as they are of all countries, would keep that 
party in power until all fear of the repudiation of that, or any 



2g WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

portion of the public debt had passed away, for they would 
understand that the destruction of any portion would result in 
universal repudiation. 

THE SOLDIER WILL CARRY OUT THE PROGRAMME. 

Such a programme, affecting so directly and favorably the 
whole business of the country, would be as attractive as insidi- 
ous ; it would settle from Southern merchants to Northern mer- 
chants debts long since outlawed or secured by barren judg- 
ments — debts which should be paid and which could, in that 
legislation, be fully secured — which amount to many million 
dollars, and are as binding on the conscience of the nation as any 
other debts of the Rebellion, and it would be the sure way to 
perpetuate the bond and banking interest of this country. Of 
what avail would Hancock be, placed there by the votes of that 
politically strong and aggressive party in the South, backed by 
the votes of their Northern allies, aided by this powerful finan- 
cial interest ? He is not the man to give, but to obey orders. 
No other soldier the country knows, has carried out the servi- 
tude of his own soul as a soldier, as this man, called, in common 
slang, superb, by his followers ; he did not hesitate even to exe- 
cute an order to hang a woman for an offence which, however 
revolting to humanity, was still political, and upon evidence, 
gathered together by any means and at a time when calm judg- 
ment was impossible. He did not hesitate to execute the order, 
although he said to do so cost him more than all the horrors of 
all the battle-fields through which he had passed, and whose 
memory would follow him to the grave. What could he do, 
when in a time of peace he is called on to execute an act of 
Congress to do justice under the Constitution as it was, and at 
the command of the party which, by the majority of the people, 
will, in such case, represent and be for the time the nation ? 

IT WILL NOT BE REPUDIATED BY SUBSEQUENT 
LEGISLATION. 

And would this part of the debt be repudiated should the Re- 
publican party ever thereafter come into power ? 



Py/LL/AM H. ENGLISH. 29 

Let me say, not until the last measure of taxation that the 
people can bear is exhausted, and that will be long after we are 
dead. 

Whenever the English kings found that their taxation was 
bearing too heavily on their subjects — that is, when they had got 
everything out of them — they used to slit the noses of the usurers 
and draw out their teeth, and subject them to other inconven- 
iences and indignities as our " English" master has slit the noses 
and drawn the teeth of the unfortunate hoosiers of his State. 
They did this for a long time, getting always more blood and 
less money; but it was the last thing they did to attack the 
monasteries, the great respect in which the priors of these mon- 
asteries were held by the people, and the danger there would 
be from the large herd of vicious people it would let loose on 
the community, if they did not keep up the public credit of reli- 
gion — meaning the monasteries — were always the prevailing 
considerations which moved their kings ; so like considerations 
will move our legislators to deal very easy with those Southern 
bondholders' bonds, and we may, as they did, have to wait for 
many years and until the teeth are all drawn from the subsidiary 
population, before some libidinous Henry, who will care more 
for the private convenience of the people than the public credit 
of the nation, will raid on that section of the bonds which were 
issued to pay for the slaves. 

BUT THE FINAL RESULT. 
What would be the end of this legislation ? We would have the 
business boom, for the time ; the country would be filled with 
shouts of exultation over its wealth, power, unity, true brother- 
hood and glory ; and then it would be as it was in Marion 
county, the usurer's grip will be on every throat ; we would 
have on us that curse of all human curses, a permanent national 
debt, under which no nation can long survive with its liberties. 
The name of English would be cursed throughout the whole 
nation ; as it was in the whole North when he came back to 
Indiana after having cast his vote to perpetuate human slavery ; 
his name will be set up high on the roll of infamy; as it was be- 



JO WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 

fore, lined with the black lines of death and degradation ; his effigy 
will hang amid high, leaping fires, with the licking flames of hell 
through it, but the work will have been done ; and, like the citi- 
zens of Marion county, the nation will look up silently and 
hopelessly from the ashes of the ruined homes of a once free 
people, 

SOUTHERN CLAIMS BEFORE CONGRESS. 
From tJie list of Southern claims now before Congress. 

Claim 3,107 presented before the Committee on War Claims, Marie P. Evans, 
Orleans Parish, La., January l8th, 1875. 

Claim as originally presented ^272,590 

As amended the following year 495>355 

Among the items are 3,000 cords of wood $5 per cord 15,000 

Sixty-two mules ^200 1 2,400 

Three " ;^ioo 300 

374 tons of fodder, corn blades, $25 9>35o 

Five barrels of brandy, ;?400 .' 2,000 

145,000 fence-rails 

In the first claim, 500 hogsheads of sugar are included ; in the 
second this amount is raised to 1,109 hogsheads, and the price 
is raised from ;^2CK) a hogshead to ;^325, and this, too, when the 
real estate of Indiana had sunk ;^57,(X)0,ooo, 

" Claim 14,103. Charles G. Kerr, Fitzhugh Lee et al., executors, Alexandria 
county, Va. Filed May 20th, 1872 ; value of 125,000 cords of oak and pine timber 
cut from the estate of Ravensworth, Fairfax county, Va., by the order of various 
quartermasters in 1861-62-63-64-65, at ^3 a cord, $375,000." 

The whole property from which this wood was alleged 
to have been, or was cut, was assessed before and since those 
years at ^78,260. 

"Claim 8,276. Claim of Annie Whitmore, of Whitfield county. [Mr. English 
has no interest in this claim ; it was presented by the Hon. Benoni S. Fuller, of 
Indiana] — $840,000. This includes one horse, $2,300; thirty-five more horses, 
$5,100 altogether ; twelve mules, $175, $2,100; 262 bales of cotton taken for hospital 
purposes, 500 pounds to the bale, $1 per pound, $131,000." 

I wonder if that Northern soldier thought that his children 
would have to pay for that piece of cotton he put in his ugly 
wound when his life-blood was ebbing and he turned his dying 
eyes to the sky above him for the last time forever ; or that the 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^j 

bill for it would be presented by one of the representatives of 
his own State. The items go on : 

" Four parlor sets, one garnet velvet, one satin, one silk, one stripes, (all made, 
except the last, by Northern men,) ^300, $1,200; one parlor set, mohair, $200; 
one parlor set, green silk velvet, $400; one parlor set, plaid stripe, blue, red and 
green, empress, $350 ; one piano, Chickering (carried away by Butler, on his back, 
and filled with spoons), $600; one piano, Steinway, grand, which could play Dixie 
by itself, $800." 

Mr. Fuller was re-elected on the merits of this claim by his 
constituents, the strongest Democratic district of Southern 
Indiana. 

"Presbyterian Church, Murfreesboro, Tenn., $10,000, staining the floor and seats 
with blood and the general use of the same as a hospital for sick and wounded sol- 
diers." 

It must be said to the credit of the old monasteries, that they 
did not deny hospice to the sick and sore travellers, or the 
wounded crusaders coming back frotji the wars, and yet I have 
no doubt that those Presbyterians think that they are doing 
something very much better in the way of religion than was 
done by those monasteries. The church cost $5,000 when new, 
and if the payment is made in government bonds it will be 
turned into a National Bank, with the trustees for the board 
of directors and the pastor for Anglican of the whole. 

Mr. Bright, Democrat, of Tennessee, had this bill in charge. 

" Thomas Hoard $58,995 for damages to his farm used as a battle-ground. (The 
battle-ground of Stone river.) 

This claim ought to be paid half only in government bonds, 
the rest should be paid in Confederate notes for the other side 
of the damage. 

This is the style of claims which are before Congress and the 
Court of Claims, to be disposed of when Mr. English, taking 
General Hancock's arm, will walk up the white steps of the 
capitol. 

He who does not believe that these Southern claims, in the 
event of the ascendency of the Democratic party, will be pressed, 
would not believe it possible for William H. English to foreclose 
a mortgage. 



22 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

The whole amount of Southern claims now on file is as 
follows : 

House Bills, War Claims $208,730 

Cotton Tax 68,022,000 

Internal Improvement 7.9i3.500 

State Claims 890,700 

Private Relief 742>43i 

Senate Bills, War Claims 255,508 

Internal Improvement 720,500 

Private Relief 138,977 

Total, 196 Bills $78,892,346 

Estimate of 61 Bills Based on the Average 24,553,232 

$103,445,578 
Add Amount Filed Previous to October, 1879 1,287,524,735 

Whole Amount of Claims $1,390,970,313 

These losses do not embrace losses from the emancipation of 
slaves, depredation of the troops or casualties of the march and 
the battle-field. Slave losses in one State — South Carolina: 
the number of slaves 400,000, value ;^ 200,000 ,000. 

HOW HE GOT HIS MONEY. 

In 1863 he became associated with Hugh McCullough, 
Lanier of New York, and Riggs, in the banking business, and 
started the First National Bank of Indianapolis. And he 
has done more to injure the credit of the whole system of 
banking, and to excite the masses of the people of Indiana 
against its working, than all its open enemies. Through it and 
through his other operations he made the period of his connec- 
tion with it to many, very many women and men and children 
of the county where it stands, a period of intense misery; so 
that it seemed to them that God, for their work for our common 
humanity, had averted his face and turned loose upon them the 
very devils out of hell to exhaust their patience, and make them 
curse his face and die. 

HIS BANK STARTED WITH A CAPITAL OF $500,000. 
No country before had ever come out of a war of such, or any 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^3 

proportion, under as favorable conditions as the Northern tier 
of our States. In Indiana they had escaped very largely, though 
not altogether its ravages. Every industry had been stimulated, 
and, for the fifteen consecutive years to follow its close, it was 
about to produce such harvests as have never before succeeded 
each other in all its history. With many factories, and fruitful 
fields, and with abundance of money, it seemed to be entering 
upon a career of unexampled prosperity. The State government 
and the people of Indiana, with enthusiasm and thankfulness for 
the great result, set about to improve their farms and homes, and 
not forgetting their defenders, to establish homes for the disabled 
soldiers and seamen ; they formed bureaus of emigration, estab- 
lished schools for their children, and gave full rights in law for 
the new freed race, who lived, or might come among them. 

MR. ENGLISH SETS DOWN HIS BANK VERY QUIETLY 
AMID THIS SCENE OF EXULTATION. 

The fields grew on, there were the same mouths to feed, the 
same hands to toil, the same sunshine and the same rain ; and 
the people of Marion county worked on and worked on. Mr. 
English and his bank seemed a great blessing, for they got their 
money there ; it was burthened with usury from the hands of 
this new lord of the Southern ancestry, but they got their money 
there. 

Through 1866 the people of the county continued working 
on, upholding their State, and gaining for themselves the com- 
forts and luxuries of life, educating their children, and improving 
their homes ; with the oth^r citizens of their State they expended 
that year for the blind and deaf, for the schools, for the soldiers 
and other expenditures, ,$4,591,856.33. 

Both are yet prosperous, but how do they stand in 1866, and 
what will be the end ? Mr. English, this brother of the slave- 
holders, has bonds and money, and they have hands, and farms, 
and houses ; under an arrangement with the government he will 
receive, whatever happens to any other individuals in the county, 
regularly the interest on his bonds ; and will contribute nothing 
from them for the support of his county, State or country ; noth- 
3 



34 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

ing for the colleges, the officers of the State ; for the sick, or the 
bhnd, or the dumb, or the poor, or the soldiers lying in the hos- 
pitals. And he will receive such interest for the use of his 
money as he requires ; the rest of the people of Marion county 
are to take all the risks and chances of business, of losses by 
fire, by water, by the failure of crops, by everything ; to pay all 
the taxes, and, in addition to that, by the law of their State, sus- 
tained by the Supreme Court of their State, if any one defaults 
or falls behind for a day in the payment of his taxes, he shall 
pay fifteen per cent, more, and ten per cent, for the remainder 
of the year, and fifteen per cent, for the second year, and then 
he shall pay twenty-five per cent, for five years, when he can 
pay no more. What will be the end ? William H. English will 
grow rich faster than the people, that is undeniable. What 
further ? Well, some of the people will go down, some will hold 
on longer; those who have a little more nerve will hold on 
longer, they will eat less bread, wear poorer clothes awhile, then 
they will go under, and their end will be seen in the list of 
bankruptcies and sheriff sales. What will finally remain ? A 
vast pile of money in Mr. English's hands, splendid houses, 
carriages, luxurious living, and the shadow of the bank covering 
the whole county as with a pall. Let us now get at this inevi- 
table result in figures, and trace the ruin of Marion county and 
the rise of Mr. English in actual figures, year after year, to this 
hour. Then, looking up from the figures into the face of the 
man, we will see also these results on his soul and on the souls 
of the men and women he has ruined. 

It will have made of this brother of the slaveholders, a thing 
without a sentiment for, or confidence in, humanity, and it will 
leave on the women and the men traces of long suffering ; some 
will be patient, looking to God, or for rest in their graves ; some 
sullen, brooding over their wrongs. But it was still all well in 
1866 with the masses of the people, only here and there one 
gets into the shadow of his bank and passes into the silence 
away. They were all still looking forward to the grander future 
of their State. The Governor had assured them that by the 
first of May, 1866, enough money would be accumulated to sink 



WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. - 

the debt of their State to ^3,886,080 ; and they with the rest are 
projecting grand improvements, and for their harbor ^300,000 
has been collected by private hands. To October, 1866, the 
people of the State have paid into their State treasury nearly 
four million dollars, and expended ^426,000 on public institu- 
tions. So they reach onward into 1 867 ; they felt the bank 
grasping a little more, that year its hands felt harder for all their 
velvet covering, but the coming year the pressure really began ; 
fewer depositors came in than before ; there was some suffering. 
The people got discontented ; they did not like Mr. English's 
bank, and it was necessary for their leaders to say something. 
Mr. English was one of their leaders— Chairman of the Demo- 
cratic State Central Committee— the one that gave the money 
to keep them going along, and he says, swing the resolution out 
strong so that the people will be satisfied. 

The Democratic Convention was therefore held there on the 
8th day of January, 1868, and they resolved that the national 
banking system, organized in the .interest of the bondholders, 
ought to be abolished and United States notes substituted in lieu 
of the national bank currency, thus saving to the people in inter- 
est alone, more than ^^ 18,000,000 annually. And until this sys- 
tem of banks be abolished we demand that the banks of Indiana 
shall be subject to the same taxation, State and municipal, as 
other property of the State; that we are in favor of the payment 
of the government bonds in treasury notes, commonly called 
greenbacks, except expressly made payable in gold by law, at 
the earliest period, and then they adjourned. 

Then came 1869. The whole nation was now developing with 
enormous increase. Railroads had increased since the war 
13,000 miles, covering 390,000 square miles of the country; 
70,000 miles of telegraph were erected during that year. We 
raised corn, 1865, 642,724,247 bushels; in 1869, 874,120,000; 
wheat, 1865, 148,522,829 bushels; 1869, 264,146,900 bushels; 
hay, 1865, 23,538,740 tons; 1869, 26,420,000 tons; tobacco' 
1865, 183,316,953, in 1869, 225,000,000 lbs.; oats, 1865,235,- 
252,245 bushels, the largest ever raised to that year, and- in 
1869, 298,284,000 bushels; cotton, 1865-66, 2,228,987 bales, in 



^5 WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 

1869-70, 3,154,946 bales. And this crop by the foi-nier slaves 
■working in the cotton-fields with free-labor. And that the Demo- 
cratic party also had spoken in thunder tones on the 8th day 
of January, against the banks and the bondholders, and yet the 
])eople of Marion county were not happy. 

They could not very well be, for that year, 1869, carried sixty- 
eight of their State down with ;^ 1,0 17,000 to bankruptcy. They 
worked on through 1 870. It is a large enterprise to carry on a 
State ; the poor people of that State that year had to raise by 
taxes and expend for charity, for education, and for all other ex- 
penses of the State, 1^3,5 32,406.79 ; and eighty-six more of them, 
with $960,000, went down to bankruptcy, but that year again 
that Democratic party came up in convention and said, " That 
the national bank system ought to be abolished, and greenbacks 
used in lieu of other bank paper, thus saving millions annually 
to the people and giving to the whole United States, instead of 
to the few, the benefits of issuing a paper currency ; that the 
business interests of the country demanded an increased and 
maintained volume of currency; that shares of stock in the 
national banks ought to be subjected to school and municipal 
taxation, on the same conditions as other property; and that 
they DEMANDED from their State Legislature that the shares of 
the national banks be subjected to equal taxation with other 
property in the State." Mr. English, the Chairman of their 
Committee said, now the people ought to be satisfied. Nothing, 
except a resolution to tear down the bank, could be stronger. 

But their business in Marion county was dropping away. 
Sixty men, sinking $860,000, went down into bankruptcy in 
1872; the Legislature itself began to get anxious, poverty was 
increasing ; tramps were on the highway ; it was necessary they, 
as well as the Democratic Convention, should do something ; so 
they turned their attcnti )a to the drunkenness prevailing in the 
State, and made anoliur of those many mild efforts, which 
have been made since the flood to sober their people. Eighty 
went down that year with $991,000. The capital of his 
BANK had increased FROM $500,000 TO $1,000,000. Thcy 
still worked on as before, they sustained their State; they con- 



WTLLIAM //. ENGLISH. ,7 

tributed the following year, 1873, ;^4,i 15,457, for reformatory 
institutions, for educational institutions, and for the mili- 
tary ; and they projected new railroads ; but a heavier crash came 
with the close of that year, carrying down 134 bankrupts, and 
with them ;^2, 260,000. 

In 1874, to keep up the amount of taxation, the State made a 
higher valuation of the property, and the farmers got on their 
feet and came together in front of English's bank in conven- 
tion, and struck boldly at the evil threatening their homes ; they 
said that banking and moneyed institutions were monopolies by 
which, through a ruinous rate of interest, the products of human 
labor are concentrated in the hands of non-producers. Mr. 
English smiled once more, and said "the farmers will go back to 
their homes." 

That year one hundred and sixty-seven went down to bank- 
ruptcy with ^2,397,000; then it was a pretty thing to see that 
Democratic party come together again, and say (very loud this 
time), "We are in favor of the substitution of the greenbacks for 
the national bank currency and the abolition of the banks alto- 
gether." Mr. English paid their expenses out of his bank's 
money : they were eating the dirt swept from his banking-house 
floor. 

In 1875, the taxable property of the State sunk ;^57,i 17,692 ;' 
and three hundred and thirty-two bankrupts went down, sinking 
;g4, 804,000 ; and the Legislature again applied itself to keeping the 
people sober, very much as after the long and terrible slaughter of 
the war, a good sort of people among us established societies for 
the prevention of cruelty to animals. Having aided this destruc- 
tion of the values of their properties, by ruinous rates of interest 
and exactions by \vhich such men as English lived, and con- 
signed thousands of their people to bankruptcy, they passed a 

' The assessments are now still lower in 1875; lands on the outer edge of the 
township sold at $2,000 per acre. They can be bought to-d.iy (1880) for $100 an 
acre. The lots, firty-six in number, in King's Arsenal Heights, v.ilued at $19,000 
in the table which follows in this volume, the appraisement of 1880 fixes at ;gl,820. 
The Sugar Grove addition, three hundred lots appraised at $400 in 1875, was 
appraised in 1880 at $70. 



og WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 

law to keep them sober. In 1876 three hundred and sixty-two, 
with $4,787,401, went to bankruptcy: his bank went on stronger 
and stronger. 

The year 1877 sunk three hundred and fifty-two, with $5,718- 
800, and got up the workingman he had nearly ruined — a danger- 
ous element. August 13th, 1877, they said, in a long series of 
resolutions, " That the suffering and destitution of the labor 
element of the country were terrible beyond description, that all 
the laws instead of representing labor were merely to enrich and 
support in luxury idle drones, and are antagonistic to the prin- 
ciples of justice." 

MR. ENGLISH NOW LEAVES THE BANK. 

There is a fable of yEsop which wise men remember: "The 
Larks and the Farmer." Mr. English sat down with his stock- 
holders for the last time, July 23d, 1877. It was solemn — it was 
ludicrous ; it was, in its relation to the outside world, terrible. 
There was a frightful account to be settled on the Day of Judg- 
ment, should that ever come, to make those figures he gave there 
balance with the outside misery ; but it was all serene within, and 
it seemed just like the play of AH Baba and the Forty Thieves, to 
see them there together. He seldom affects emotion and he 
gave his farewell in figures : 

" I congratulate the officers and stockholders of our enter- 
prise. 

" The bank has been in operation fourteen years under my 
control, with a capital stock of $500,000. 

" In the meantime, it has voluntarily returned $500,000 of 
capital stock back to its stockholders, besides paying them in 
dividends $1,496,250, part of which was in gol'd. 

" I now turn it over to you with a capital unimpaired and 
$327,000 of the undivided earnings on hand. 

" To this may be added the premiums on United States bonds 
at the present prices, amounting to $36,000, besides quite a large 
amount for lost, or destroyed bills." 

The items of profit are as follows : 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 39 

Returned to stockholders, capital $500,000 

Dividend to stockholders 1,496,250 

Undivided earnings 327>ooo 

Premiums on bonds • • • ■ 36.000 

Lost or destroyed bills 24,000 

' Total ^2,383,250 

On his retiring from the bank, the stockholders and directors 
passed the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the directors and stockholders of this bank 
sincerely regret the causes which impelled the resignation of 
the Hon. William H. English, so long president of this institu- 
tion, and that in accepting the same they desire to express their 
thanks to him for the very great financial ability, constant 
watchfulness and perfect fidelity with which he has managed it 
from its organization to the present time. 



1 There is an indirect but no less certain profit which Mr. English fails to men- 
tion. He tells us that his bank, besides returning the entire capital of ;?500,ooo to 
the stockholders, paid them dividends aggregating, in fourteen years, ;? 1,496,250. 
Divide this by fourteen and we have $ 106,857 as the annual dividend. This amount 
was turned over to the stockholders regularly. It is presumable that they invested 
it. We will suppose they loaned it at ten per cent., the interest on the first year's 
dividend for thirteen years is ;g 138,990. On the second twelve years is $128,390. 
On the third eleven years, $1 18,390. Those who figure it up will find that the sim- 
ple interest on these dividends amounts to $973,710— almost a million. To com- 
pound it would swell it to $1,500,000. Add this to the figures of Mr. English, and 
his statement would read as follows : 

Returned to stockholders, entire capital $500,000 

Dividends to stockholders 1,496,250 

Undivided earnings 327,000 

Premiums on bonds 36,000 

Lost or destroyed bills 24,000 

$2,383,250 

Interest on dividends 973-710 

Retained by officers for salaries and rent 196,000 

Total $3,552,960 

During these fourteen years Mr. English got an annual salary of $5,000 as presi- 
dent of this bank. Another stockholder, John C. New, got $4,000 a year as cashier. 
Still another stockholder got $5,000 a year for the use of the rooms in which the 
bank was located, and one of the cashiers went through the bank. 



40 



WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. 



Resolved, That the executive committee of the board be 
directed to have prepared and presented to him a suitable testi- 
monial as a memento of our regard and esteem, and that he 
carry with him our most sincere wishes for a long life of useful- 
ness and happiness. 

In pursuance of the last resolution, a magnificent gold medal, 
bearing the words, " Fortitude, strength and fidelity," and on 
the reverse, " Presented to Hon. William H. English, founder, 
and over fourteen years Pi-esident of the First National Bank of 
Indianapolis, as a memento of the personal esteem of the stock- 
holders and directors and their high appreciation of his very 
great financial ability, constant watchfulness and perfect fidelity, 
July 23d, 1877," and with the medal ^465,000 cash. 

THE REIGN OF RUIN CLOSES. 

The property of the State sank five millions in 1878, and crime 
greatly increased. Their prison had but half enough cells. 
Three hundred and seventy-four more went down, sinking 
;^5,233,549 with them into bankruptcy; the sheriff's fees 
amounted to ^150 a day in Marion county ; Mr. English was his 
largest customer.' Indianapolis, where his bank was, had a 
million and a half of indebtedness, and many a time, says the pre- 
sent candidate for governor of the Republican party, have I seen 
laboring men walking home through the streets of Indianapolis, 
carrying their little dinner baskets in their hands. They said to 
me, " Mr. Porter, we are not getting along. We could get along 
very well, and make repairs from time to time, which are neces- 
sary, were it not for the burden of taxes and assessments that 
keeps us behind all the time." It may not seem worthy of a 
place here, yet it is nevertheless true, that the very hogs got 
thinner all over the State. They raised more hogs and fed less 
corn; they eat less themselves; they raised 55,000,000 bushels 
of wheat in the State; exported 43,000.000 and kept only 
12,000,000 for themselves. The more they worked the less they 
made in that county. It was becoming a struggle for existence. 



'Total value of taxable property, 1877, $855,190,125; in 1878, $850,616,987. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



41 



Tt was once a bleeding Kansas ; it was now a bleeding Marion 
county ; but its citizens, with their fellow-citizens of the State, 
kept a grand record of energy through the whole ; they estab- 
lished a department of geology ; there must be something below, 
they reasoned, when what is on the earth will not sustain us. 

They got up an amendment to their constitution to keep 
their property from being taxed out of existence ; they established 
an asylum for feeble-minded children. But the struggle was 
too great for human nature to endure ; defalcation in the State ; 
and even among the bank officers. Attorney-General Buskirk's' 
affairs were examined. It turned on the construction of the law ; 
these things always do, but the reason he took the money was, 
the same reason why the hogs grew thinner, and the people 
eat less wheat than before, and why the mob of laborers 
howled around the State house. The money had got into 
Mr. English's hands, all of it, and it could *not be anywhere 
else, for it is not one of the functions of money to be in two 
places at the same time. It took about 400 years for the 
English kings to discover that by an inevitable law the money 
of the realm always got into the monasteries, so that the govern- 
ment could go on no longer until the king himself got into 
the monasteries, and in fact until they were torn down and carted 
away. Poor Buskirk and the long list of bankrupts, and the 
thousands who had nothing to bankrupt upon, whose names 
never reached to the dignity of newspaper disgrace, and the 
tramps and the poor children, whose fathers committed suicide 
or ran away, everj^'thing was going " to hell and gone," more 
and more. English was sending them there one after another. 
Buskirk, poor fellow, says, " I have mortgaged all I have to my 
surety. I have nothing else, having come back here poorer by 
about ^4,000 than when I went to Indianapolis four years ago. 
I had to borrow money to pay the freight on my furniture to get 
back here." And Buskirk was the Attorney-General of the State 
of Indiana. Jackson Landers' made an error which brought 
him in debt to the county treasury, ^14,304.48. He was the 



' E. C. Buskirk, Vice-President of the Hendricks club. 

» Brother of the Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana. 



^2 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

county treasurer of Marion county, and James C. Denny, Ex- 
Attorney-General of the State, went under investigation. God 
knows how many more ; even the State Auditor, Henderson, 
fell back ;^ 13,000; at least they tried to construe the law that 
way against him, although some of his friends on the com- 
mittee did not think he was bound to turn over anything into 
the treasury ; he was poor, and they were all poor ; the whole 
county was with English and the monastery system. It was, 
on the one side of the gold medal, " fortitude, strength and 
fidelity," and on the reverse, " feeble-minded children " — a sad 
thing, really, such a ruin effected in a county with a great sub- 
stratum of inexhaustible wealth, and golden fields, cattle, schools 
and churches ; but the saddest thing of all was to see its last 
Legislature meet ; they had been meeting,for the whole fourteen 
years in which the black English pile had been builded, whose 
shadow in those years shut out the sunshine of the State. They 
had not had force enough, or " fidelity " enough, or strength 
enough to beat that man ; last winter they met together and 
voted ; it was the last meeting of the Legislature, the winter of 
last year (1879). -^"^ they said that the Chinese cheap labor 
of Mr. English had ruined them, and sent Mr. Voorhees to Con- 
gress to say the same thing there. 

They voted to reduce the wages of government officials by a 
vote of ninety to two ; to repeal the act to resume, fifty to forty ; 
to tax the bonds of the United States government, fifty-seven to 
thirty-four; for the abolition of all bank issues, fifty-nine to 
thirty-two ; for a free coinage of gold and silver, eighty-five to 
five ; for the issue by the government of a loan of her own paper 
for the people, enough for all the wants of trade, at least $^0 
for every man, woman and child, fifty to forty ; to pay off the 
bonded debt altogether, eighty-four to four. And English looked 
out through the barred window of his residence and smiled. 
" This sort of language is getting a little monotonous," he said. 
The next spring — this year 1880 — that Democracy was in Cin- 
cinnati to sell themselves and the former slaves of the South 
once more to be his slaves, and he bought the whole party for 
^100,000, and took a mortgage in Hancock's name on the country. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



43 



THE MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES OF WILLIAM H. 
ENGLISH. 

{^From the Records of Marion County.) 

We are now coming to the details of this reign of ruin. The 
statements are given over the affidavits of Ben. Rau, Township 
Assessor, and Daniel M. Ransdell, Clerk of the Superior Court 
of Marion County, August 21, 1880. 

The list begins in October, 1872, and with a woman. 



Plaintiff. 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 
Wm. H. English, 



Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 

Elizabeth Fiscus, et al 4 

Charles N. Tuleweiler, et al 6 

Aaron Brown, et al 6 

Wm. H. Brown, et al 7 

John L. Adkinson, et al 7 

John Batty, et al 7 

Julius A. Kelley, et al 7 

Clark M. Randall, et. al 7 

Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 

Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 

Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 

N. R. Ruckle, et al 7 

N. R. Ruckle, et al 7 

Andrew W. Bronson, et al 7 

Alfred C. Morse, et al 7 

Caroline P. De Wolf, et al 9 

Jacob C. Dick, et al 8 

Weitkins Lacy, et al 10 

John W. Coyner, et al 10 

James O. Woodruff, et al 10 

Samuel R. Lippincott et al 10 

Mary S. Sheets, et al 10 

Elam Fischer, et al 1 1 

Hanna N. Newlin, et al 1 1 

Mary S. Sheets, et al u 

Jackson L. Jessup, et al 1 1 

Margaretta C. C. Goe, et al II 

Mary S. Sheets, et al 1 1 

William D. Seaton, et al 8 

Robert Connolly, et al 12 

James W. Bugbee, et al 12 

Eliza B. Howe, et al. 12 

Harry S. Sheets, et al 12 

Arthur S. C. Vance, et al 13 

Lawrence G. Hay, et al 13 

William Smith, et al 13 

W. C. Van Arden, et al 13 

William Preignitz, et al 14 

William H. Henchen, et al 14 

Thomas E. Phillips, et al 14 

Edward W. Pierson, et al 14 

John Sears, et al '4 



1873 
1873 
1873 
1875 
'873 



Date of filing Compt 
October 25, 1872. 
September 26, 1873 
October 10, 1873. 
December 13, 1873 
December 13, 1873 
December 13, 
December 13, 
December 26, 
December 26, 
December 26, 
December 26, 1873 
December 26, 1873 
December 26, 1873 
February 20, 1874. 
February 20, 1874. 
August 4, 1874. 
April 20, 1874. 
October 3, 1874. 
October 23, 1874. 
October 23, 1874. 

October 23, 1874. 

October 23, 1874. 

November 5, 1S74. 

November 24, 1874. 

November 24, 1874, 

November 24, 1874. 

December 9, 1874. 

December 23, 1874 

January 6, 1875. 

February 18, 1875. 

February 17, 1875. 

February 16, 1875. 

February 13, 1875. 

May II, 1875. 

May 12, 1875. 

May 20, 1875. 

June 14, 1875. 

June 24, 1875. 

June 24. 1875. 

August 23, 1875. 

August 23, 1875. 

August 19, 1875. 



44 WILLI A AI II. ENGLISH. 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No Entry Docket. Date of filing Compt. 

Wni. n. English, John R. Elder, trustee 15 September 23, 1.S75. 

Wni. H. English, John R. Elder, trustee 15 September 23, 1875. 

\Vm. H. English, Benjamin Crane, et al 15 SejUember 23, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, William Smith, et al 15 October 22, 1875. 

Wm. n. English, Katherine Schlegel, et al 15 October 22, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, Jackson L. Jessup, et al 15 Octoi)er 20, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, William Madison, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, Theresa Goebler, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, Conrad Kron, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, Henry M. Sheets, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, L. B. Manchester, et al 16 November 26, 1875.. 

W:n. H. English, N. R. Ruckle, et al 16 November 26, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, John T. Macaulay, et al 16 November 26, 1875. 

Wm. H. English, Bettie C. Huston, et al 16 November 26. 1875. 

These were the first three years of his foreclosures — and brings 
it to the Centennial year. 

In this year we might suppose that he would rest. It was the 
year which beheld the fall of the British throne. He has only 
.started out on his Lietrim work ; but he will surely take a rest 
here. The Bell of Independence is ringing in the year of 
jubilee," in which the usurers of old restored to every man his 
possessions — he who is to ascend the white steps of the capitol, 
will surely now obey God's command for this most joyous hour 
— he at least lives in a Christian country. Will he not bring 
together the families he is breaking asunder? There's Elizabeth 
Fiscus et al. And if he does not believe in God or thinks 
these commands were for the usurers of the olden times, let 
him bring Elizabeth Fiscus back with her little family, and have 
a good time once more : God or no God, this is simple humanity 
for such a year. He will not do so — he has other purposes — he 
will not go to the capitol as Jefferson and Adams went there — first 
in the hearts of their countrymen — he will buy his way there — 
and he must have money. There is one man in all this mighty 
nation — in all the world, whose heart beats not with the spirit of 
this holiest year of all the years, of all the centuries — let the 
funeral go on. 

• Leviticus, lolh verse, chap. xxv. : Proclaim liberty throughout all the land 
unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you : and ye shall return 
every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 17th 
verse : Ye .shall not therefore oppress one another, but thou shall fear thy God : for I 
am the Lord your God. 



WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. .5 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. Date 0/ filing Compt 

Wm. II. English, Joseph W. Hammond, et al. . .. 16 January 19, 1876. 

Wm. li. English, Charles O. Gilchrist, et al 17 January 27, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, James W. King, et al 17 January 26, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Sarah Dunbar, et al 17 January 25, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Robert Connelly, et al 17 February 17, 1876. 

And now you will observe how he celebrates the birthday of 
his first predecessor : they generally elsewhere have a military 
parade — people close their stores, the courts adjourn ; but he 
takes his customary walk with that inevitable foreclosure — justice 
delays not for him for holy years or holy days — wait not, he 
says, till to-morrow's sun : another woman, and her children it 
may be, must go. So the record reads : 

Wm. H. English, Rebecca P. Sinker, et al 17 February 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, John O. Hardesty, et al 17 February 25, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, John H. Batty, et al 17 February 25, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Matthew Logan, et al 18 April 21, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Sadie E. McClelland, el al 18 April 18, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Francis E. Woodling, et al 18 April 18, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Elihu P. Iladley, et al 18 April 18, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Choah Rinker, et al 18 April 17, 1876. 

Wm. II. English, V. K. Stanley, et al 18 April 17, 1S76. 

Wm. II. English, Mary Hatch, et al 18 May 18. 1876. 

Wm. H. English, E. J. Foster, et al 18 May i8, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Benjamin Mason, et al 19 May 24, 1S76. 

Wm. H. English, Otway Allen, et al 19 August 10, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Caroline E. Butterfield, et al.. .. 19 August 10, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Eliza Lippincott, et al 19 August 10, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Benjamin F". Jones, et al 20 August 20, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Joseph Poole, et al 20 August 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, George B. Engle, Jr., et al 20 August 20, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Olivicay Allen, et al 9 

Wm. H. English, M. D. Losey, et al 20 August 21, 1876. 

Wm. II. English, Julius C. Wagner, et al 21 October 27, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, John C. Shoemaker, et al 21 October 26, 1876. 

Wm. II. English, Wm. E. Tilurray, et al 21 October 25, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Charles W. Moody, et al 21 October 4, 1S76. 

It is difficult to believe that these names that read down like 
a dictionary — a sort of dictionary of the " English " language 
— represent blighted lives and ruined homes — that this man was 
making " a new forest " in Indiana — a place, as the poet writes, 
in the " Deserted Village," " where wealth accumulates and men 
decay;" but so it was; a reporter who saw many of these names 
in their flesh and blood, and hatred of the man, says of this 
last name, Mr. Charles W. Moody : " He was a druggist ; in 
1873 he was in business at the intersection of Indiana avenue 



.5 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

and Tennessee street, and owned the building. Was doing 
well, and concluded to add to his building, and, as he had a 
little extra money, and there was a large amount of building 
going on, he thought he would buy some ground and start a 
brick-yard, and that, thereby, he could make the brick for his 
house free of cost. He bought ten acres south of town, from 
B. F. Heffgen, for ^650 per acre, and paid on the property 
^4,500, leaving two first-mortgage notes of ;^ 1,000. These 
Heffgen sold to English, and on them he paid until he owed 
him $698.45. He also paid the taxes, and this was the only 
encumbrance on the ground. In the meantime there was no 
sale for the brick, and though he worked night and day, he was 
unable to meet the interest. English then foreclosed. He met 
him at the Court House, and on the steps asked him to be len- 
ient, that he was doing all mortal man could do, and that he 
would pay him as soon as possible. English said, and these are 
his exact words : ' If you don't hurry up and pay me faster, I 
WILL DRIVE YOU TO HELL AND GONE ! ' But this is not all: 
he bought in the property, and closed his drug-store on a per- 
sonal judgment of ;^2,500. How English got that he could not 
discover, until he found that the notes were ' gold bearin',' and 
that he had exacted the premium. When he closed his store, 
other creditors, of course, came and he was ruined. At that 
time he considered himself, and was, worth, clear of everything,. 
;^25,ooo, and Bill English ruined him." 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No Entry Docket. Date of filing Cotnpt 

Wm. H. English, John H. Vagen, et al 21 November 22, 1876. 

Wni. H. English, Nancy Nichols, et al 21 November 22, 1876- 

Wm. H. English, Wilson Lockhart, el al 21 November 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, John L. Hanna, et al 21 November 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Theresa Neather, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, George Lowe, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, John A. Kierling, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 

Wm. H. English, Jacob Bieler, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 

This is Captain Jacob Bieler, an employe in the mail-bag ser- 
vice at the post-office. Some six years since he purchased, for 
$2,200, two lots from James Frank, who had laid out an addi- 
tion on land bought from William H. English. He knew Frank 
intimately, and had so much confidence in him that he was care- 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. .- 

less about looking at the abstract of title, as he said all was 
right. He paid part down, and altogether paid ^i,6oo, and then 
had the chance to sell the property to good advantage, but the 
would-be purchaser found that English held a first mortgage 
over the whole addition. He then went to him and asked him to 
release it, offering to pay extra his pro rata of the mortgage, when 
he said he would not do it, as the mortgage was not due until 
1880, and he would see about it then. This was in ''j^ or 
^yj. In the meantime Frank had turned over to him his last 
two notes, and he told English that unless he released the mort- 
gage he would not pay another cent, as he might come on him 
for any amount he saw fit in 1880. He said he could do as he 
liked, and subsequently foreclosed on the lots, bid them in him- 
self, and secured an additional personal judgment against him of 
^1,000.^ When he learned this he went to his office and asked 
what he owed a thousand dollars for; that he had paid him 
;^i,6oo, and that he had the lots back, and what more could he 
ask ? English said, what he asked was his money, and he pro- 
posed to have it, and that right away. He then told English 
what he thought of his robbery, and English ordered him out of 
his office. He had a small harness shop on Delaware street, and 
was compelled to go into bankruptcy. 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. Date of filing Compt. 

Wm. H. English, Isaac Klines, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 

Win. H. English, Louise Metzner, et al 22 December 22, 1S76. 

' Mr. English, when buying under the hammer, did not bid the full amount of 
his mortgage, thus leaving an individual judgment against his unfortunate creditors. 
The appended is taken from the list of sheriff's sales, and tells its own story : 

Amount of Personal 

Property sold. Amount bid. Mortgage. jTudgntent. 

October 7, 1879 — Lot 23, Outlot io8, Frank's addition $400 I541 89 I141 89 

October 29, 1879 — Lots 17 and 18, Frank's addition 800 1,263 80 463 80 

November 5, 1879 — Lots i, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 in Moore's sub- 
division 600 1,86732 1,26732 

March 2, 1880 — Part of Lot 2, square 19 6,500 7,18060 68060 

April 27, 1880— Lot 14, Outlot 13, Terry's subdivision 1,600 1,62540 2540 

February 20, 1877— Part of Lot 317, Outlets 98,91, 96, 97, Stone's 

subdivision 1,600 1,717 79 117 79 

April 28, 1877— Part of Lot 317, Stone's addition 910 1,92330 1,01330 

May 3, 1879 — Lots 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 
43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 58, 59, 207, 208, 209, 250, 251, 291, 292, 293, 
294, 295, 48, 49, 106, 107, loS, ICQ, no. III, 112, 113, 114, 115, 

116, 117, 118, 119, 120, Allen's Woodlawn 1,000 1,70340 70340 

July 8, 1879 — Lots 12 and 13, Moore's subdivision 200 303 54 103 54 

July 8, 1879 — Lot 4, Moore's subdivision 100 151 77 51 77 

July 8, 1879 — Lot 36, Outlot 130, Yandes' addition 600 76822 16822 

July 22, 1879 — Lot 32, . Allen's new addition 400 65000 25000 



48 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 

Wm. H. English, Louise Metzner, et al 22 

Will. H. English, Louis Miller, et al 22 

Wni. n. English, Isaac W. Stratford, et al 22 

Wni. H. English, Emily D. Snyder, et al 22 



Date of filing Cotnpt. 
December 22, 1876. 
December 22, 1876. 
December 15, 1876. 
December 14, 1876. 



So closed the Centennial year; but there was yet more work 
to be done. The list begins again with — 



Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 



Wm. 
Wm, 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. II. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. H. 
Wm. II. 



Wm. 
Wm. 
Will. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 
Wm. 



Wm. H. 



Wm. H 
Wm. H 
Wm. H 
Wm. II 
Wm. H 
Wm. H 

Wm. ri 



Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Eng! 

Engl 

Engl 

English 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Engl 

Enrrl 



Wm. H. Webb, etal 22 

Mary Deerfield, et al 22 

Michael Hoffman, et al 22 

Chris. H. Stein, et al 22 

Hemy Hagedorn, et al 22 

Kalhei ine Schlegal, et al 22 

James W. Perkiason, et al 22 

Robert Breckenridge, et al 22 

John II. Scriter, et al 23 

Joseph Scliii ck, et al 23 

Frederick W. Wmter, et al 23 

William W. Blake, et al 23 

Robert Connelly, et al 23 

Harry H. Sheets, et al 23 

Julius N. Iloetgen, et al 23 

Frank Buettner, et al 23 

Jennie S. Norwood, et al 23 

Julius Wagner, et al 23 

James Bennett, et al 23 

Samuel Kennedy, et al 23 

Jas. G. Marshall, et al 24 

Samuel L. Campbell, et al 24 

James R. Baker, et al 24 

James W. King, et al 24 

Charles Brakmyer, et al 25 

Isaac W. Stialford, et al 25 

Johanna C. Poi^e, et al 25 

James W. Sewell, et al ....... . 25 

Fred. W. Winter, et al 25 

James Frank, et al 25 

Catherine Brill, et al 25 

Wm. G. Sweeney, et al 25 

John C. Ballard, et al 25 

George L. Schriter, et al 25 

August Stuckmeyer, et al 25 

Henry W. Searles, et al 25 

Jennie M. Hays, et al 25 

Henry Coburn, et al 25 

J. Peter Franz, et al 25 

Wm. H. Kramer, et al 25 

Mary A. Broominstock, et al. . . 25 

Lorinda M. Mehaffey, et al 25 

Stephen H. Greer, et al 26 

Katherina Riley, et al 26 

George W. House, et al 26 

Kate W. Patterson, et al 26 

Myron Dickson, et al 26 



1877. 

1877. 
1877. 
1877. 
1877. 
1877. 
1877. 
1877. 
1877. 



January 23, 
January 23, 
January 23, 
January 23, 
January 23, 
January 23, 
January 19, 
January 24, 
J.inuary 25, 
February 23, 1877. 
February 23, 1877. 
February 22, 1S77. 
February 23, 1877. 
February 16, 1877. 
March 22, 1S77. 
March 23, 1877. 
March 23, 1S77, 
March 23, 1877. 
March 23, 1877. 
March 23, 1877. 
May 24, 1877. 
May 23, 1877. 
April 26, 1S77. 
March 22, 1S77. 
May 25, 1877. 
May 25, 1875, 
May 25, 1877. 
May 25, 1877. 
May 25, 1877. 
May 24, 1877. 
May 24, 1877. 
May 24, 1877. 
May 24, 1877. 
July 12, 1S77. 
August 21, 1877. 
August 21, 1877. 
August 21, 1S77. 
August 18, 1877. 
August 18, 1877. 
August 18, 1877. 
August 15, 1877. 
August 15, 1877. 
October 23, i88j. 
October 23, 1877. 
November 13, 1877, 
November 12, 1877. 
November 21, 1877. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 

Wm. H. English, James M. Robin, et al 26 

Wm. H. English, Wm. F. Bird, et al 27 

Wm. H. English, Daniel McCIure, et al 27 

Wm. H. English, Jacob C. Dick, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, Mary E. Adams, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, George H. Kirkpatrick, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, George Heid, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, Robert Breckenridge, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, James H. Miller, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, James A. Moore, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, Mary A. Fiscus, et al 28 

Wm. H. English, James W. King, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, John Stuckmeyer, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, Herman Reuitti, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, Jens Peter Peterson, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, Peter Peterson, et al 29 

Wm. H. English, Edgar J. Foster, et al 29 

Wm. \\. English, .Samuel Johnson, et al 30 

Wm. H. English, Mary A. Dickson, et al 30 

Wm. H. English, Barbara E. Okey, et al 30 

Wm. H. English, George Schriter, et al 30 



49 

Date 0/ filing Compt. 
November 21, 1877. 
December 24, 1877. 
February 22, 1878. 
April 23, 1878. 
May 14, 1878. 
May 7, 1878. 
March 19, 1878. 
March 19, 1878. 
March 15, 1878. 
November 15, 1878. 
March 6, 1878. 
August 21, 1878. 
August 19, 1878. 
July 29, 1878. 
June 18, 1878. 
June 17, 1878. 
June 17, 1878. 
January 17, 1879. 
January 21, 1879. 
January 22, 1879. 
January 23, 1879. 



The old German, George Schriter, writes the interviewer, had 
felt the grip of the iron hand. He was formerly in the saloon 
business, and owned a three-story brick building on Washing- 
ton street, opposite the Court House, and is an honest, hard- 
working man. He traded his property with the Octopus for 
four houses and six lots in English's addition, and subsequently 
mortgaged the property — which was valued by English in the 
trade at $10,000 — to him for $1,300 to pay a security debt The 
inevitable foreclosure followed, and when friends helped to 
redeem the property, on the last day there was an item of $100 
for attorney's fees for his son who attended to the case. He 
also exacted the full penalty on the tax certificate, which. 
Schriter was unable to take up on account of sickness. 



Wm. H. English, Charles Neighbors, et al 30 January 23, 1879^ 

Wm. H. English, Lemuel McLaughlin, et al 31 March 13, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Barbara E. Okey, et al 31 April 9, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Samuel B. Hoefgen, et al 31 April 12, 18791 

Wm. H. English, Brice M. Carter, et al 31 April 12, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Kate M. Patterson, et al 31 April 12, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, James W. Morris, et al 29 April 23, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Jane Greenfield, et al 32 August 18, 1879* 

Wm. H. English, Robert H. Patterson, et al 32 August 18. 1879* 

Wm. H. English, Nellie Winings, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Caroline Holzwart, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Mary E. Minthoral, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 



50 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Docket Entry. ^ Date of filing Compt 

Wm. H. English, Henry S. Keeley, et al 32 August 18, 1S79. 

Wm. H. English, Arthur L. Wright, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, John B. Renard, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Milton M. Landis, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Jordan S. Mott, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 

Wm. H. English, Jacob M. Wolf, et al 2,t^ December 6, 1879. 

And so ends the first lesson. After the suits for foreclosure 
comes the Sheriff's sales. There is perhaps nothing so great a trial 
to a man's fortitude who has worked long and hard, has gained 
his little home, and has his family around him, as to break the 
truth to his wife that they are ruined — that their home is gone ; 
and then to walk the streets conscious of no wrong, with head hung 
down — a ruined, outcast, houseless, homeless man. For such an 
one, there is the easy way that leaves everything, the way of the 
coward, and there is the hard way, the way of the slave, but it 
was in Indiana harder, because it was for many of them a life 
without a future ! If in that State, they said, which was in past 
years a Paradise to broken fortunes, and in these years when the 
good God fills all the earth with harvests, and gives health and 
strength to the laborer — if then and there the laborer has done 
his work, and the Sheriff's sale comes once more, what remains? 
But that was the condition Marion county was brought to and 
the whole State all those years ; and men labored and thought 
and planned and economized as never before ; but yet it was the 
.same road for all — one after the other, women and men, young 
and old, to one common ruin. 

DEEDS FROM SHERIFF OF MARION COUNTY TO 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

No. o/Book No ef 

Date of Deed Description of Property. of Record. Page. 

■October 7, 1876 Lots 19, 20, 21, Oiitlot 17, Cully and Goodwin's addition loi 52 

December 5, 1876. ..Lot 233, Allen's Woodlawn addition ...loi 518 

December 5, 1876. ..Lots 221 and 222, Allen's Woodlawn addition loi 521 

February 20, 1877. .Lots pt, 317, Outlots 91, 98,96, 97, A. Stone, Jr.'s, subdivision. .. .105 199 

April 28, 1877 Lots pt. 317, Outlots 96, 97,98, 99, A. Stone, Jr.'s, subdivision 105 612 

May 16, 1877 Lot 4, Square 35 107 81 

June 14, 1877 Lot 32, Woodruff Place 107 171 

lily 7, 1877 Lot 4, Square 5 107 248 

August 10, 1877 Lot 176, Woodruff Place 107 424 

October g, 1877 . .. .Lot 13, Outlot 2, Master's subdivision, Drake's second addition .. .111 17 

•October 5, 1877 . .. .Lots 1 and 2, Outlot 63 iii 20 

October 9, 1877 Lots 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, Frank's subdivision 11 1 24 

Decemtrer 10, 1877. Half of Lot 30, Outlots 10, 31, 184, Wiley's subdivision... 11 1 326 

December 18, 1877. Lot 12, Square 36 iii 338 

D«cember 26, 1877 Lots i and 2, Square 51 111 380 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



51 



Ne. of Book No. of 
Date 0/ Deed. Description 0/ Property. of Record. Page. 

January 11, 1878 ..Lot 18, WoodruflTs subdivision, Morris' addition iii 499 

January 11, 1878... Lot 85, Woodruff's Place 11 1 5<» 

February 20, 1878. .Lots 14 and 15, Square i, Wright's first north side addition 113 245 

Febniary 26, 1878.. Lots 19, 20, 21, 22, Square i, Wright's north side addition 113 248 

February 20, 1878.. Lot 7, Frank's S. Meridian street addition 113 251 

February 25, 1878.. Lot 175, Allen's north addition 113 254 

March 6, 1878 Lot 10, Square 87 "3 3°* 

March 5, 1878 Lots 10 and 11, Outlot J03, Downie's addition J13 307 

April 10, 1878 Lot 48, Outlot 108, Frank & Ryan's subdivision 115 122 

April 10, 1878 Lots 87 and 88, Allen & Root's north addition 115 125. 

May 3, 1878 Lot 26, Pattersons addition 115 ='58' 

May 22, 1878 Lot 25, Kappes & N aimer's addition 115 447 

May 14, 1878 Lot 29, Kappes & Naltner's addition 115 449 

May 21, 1878 Lot 322, K.tppes & Naltner's addition 115 45^ 

May 22, 1878 Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank & Ryan's subdivision 115 455 

May 14, 1878 Pt. Outlot 122 "5 458 

May 21, 1878 Lots i, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16, Pool's subdivision, Johnson's addition.. .115 461 

May J4, 1878 Lots 2 and 24, Allen, Root & English's north Woodlawn addition. .115 464 

June II, 1878 Lot 1, Woodruff & Morris' addition 115 601 

June II, 1878 Lot 30, Outlot 159, Ray Trustee's subdivision 115 604 

June 4, 1878 Lot 6, Kappes & Naltner's addition "5 507 

June 16, 1878 Lots 41 and 42, Outlot 168, Spaun & Co.'s addition 116 192 

July 23, 1873 Lot 10, Kappes' addition "6 329 

July 50, 1878 Lot 14, Square 56 "6 33= 

August 13, 1873 Lots 43, 51, 55, 80, 81, 85, Outlots 166 and 167, Blake's subdivision.ii6 454 

August 13, 1878 Lot 3, Outlot 150, Ray's subdivision 116 457 

June 7, 1878 Lots 92, 93, 94, 95, Lewis's subdivision of Bryan's addition. Lot 10, 

Square 14, Star's addition: Lots 2, 3 and 4, in Terry's subdivi- 
sion, and a part of Lot 6, Square 36 116 516 

April 2S, 1S70 Lot 16, Deutsch's subdivision, Morris's addition: Lots 4 and 71, 

Brown's subdivision; Lot 6, Kappes' addition; 23^ and 22, 
Rosep's subdivision; 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Car Company's 
addition 

RECORD OF DEEDS TO MR. ENGLISH UNDER DECREE 
OF FORECLOSURE. 

September 10, 1878X01 4, Outlot 99, Hendricks' subdivision ti8 7 

September 10, 1878 Lot 3, Outlot loi, Stern's subdivision 118 9 

October 23, 1878. . .Lot 237, Kappes' addition "8 304 

October 24, i87S....Lots 13, 14, 15, Lozier s Highland addition 118 307 

October 22, i87S....Lot 19, Vagen's addition "8 3" 

October 22, 1878... Lots 25 and 26, Square 13, Hubbard s addition ii» SM 

October 23, 1878... Lot 44, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision "8 317 

October 24, 1878... Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' addition 118 341 

Novembers, 1878.. Lots 58, 59. 6°. Hanna's heirs addition. "8 408 

November 19, 1S78 Lot 5 and half-lot 4, Lots 91, 92 in Blake s division 120 46 

January 14, 1870 .. .Lot 63, Outlot 150, McChesney's subdivision - 120 401 

January 15, 1879.. .Lot 130, Allen & Root's north addition 120 489 

January 15, 1879... Lots 26 and 36, in WoodrufTs subdivision 120 492 

January 21, 187J . . .Lot 81, Outlot 89 120 494 

February 3 1879... Lot 2, Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad Co. s additions 120 617 

March 3, 1879 Lots 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42. 43. 44, 45. 46, 

47, 58, 59, 207, 208, 209, 250, 251, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 48, 49, 
106, 107, J08, 109. 110, III, 112, 113, 114. 115, "6, 117, 118, 119, 

120, Allen's Woodlawn addition 121 44a 

March 17, 1879 Lot 4, Square 60, Martindale's addition 121 575 

April 22 1879 Lots 15 and 16, Allen's subdivision 121 507 

May 26 '1879 Lots 4, 5 and 6, Charles St. John's addition 125 215 

May 26' 1879 Lot 3, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 218 

May 29' 1S79 Lot 4, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 221 

May 29 1879 Lot 5, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 224 

M'av 24' 1879 Lot 18, Square 22, Sangster, Harrison's addition 125 334 

lulv 8 1879 . Lots 12 and 13, Moore's and Fletcher's addition 126 55 

Tuly s' 1879 ".'.'.!.. Lot 4, Moore's and Fletcher's addition 126 J28 

luly s' 1879 Lot 16, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 126 , 31 

lulv S' 1879 Lot 36, Outlot 130, Yande's subdivision 126 34 

1ulv2i 1879 . ...Lot 232, Allen's North Woodlawn addition 126 J37 

July 22! 1879 Lots 35, 36. 33, 34, 88, 86, 87, 85, 66, 74, 63, 27, 30, 64, 76, 81, 84, 

•• ' 25, 29, 26, 32, 77, 72,85, 72, 73, 80, 67, 31, -9.,i8, .9. .20, 21,22, 

23, 17, 16, 37, 38, 39, King's subdivision, Bryan s addition 126 132 

October 7 1879 Lot 23, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 128 J59 



52 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

No. of Book No. of 

Date of Deed. Description of Property. of Record. Fa^e. 

October 21, 1879 . . .Lots 22 and 25, Square 25, Seaton's subdivision 128 192 

October 29, 1879 . . .Lots 17 and 18, Ouilot 108, Frank's subdivision 128 354 

November 5, 1079. .Lots i, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Moore's subdivision 128 114 

March 2, 1880 Lot 2, Square 19. . ..131 469 

February 6, 1880. . .Lots (assignment) from 13 to 384, inclusive, 371 pieces, Davis' 
Sugar Grove addition 

DEEDS ISSUED NOT YET RECORDED. 

May 24, 1880 Lot 230 and north half 229, Allen's addition. 

July 2, 1880 Lots 55 and 56, Outlet 100. 

August 2, 1880 Lots I to 12, 39 to 62, 89 to 100, King's Arsenal Heights. 

August 3, 1880 Lots 21, 22 and 23, Coburn's subdivision, Outlot 182. 

But not satisfied with sheriffs' deeds, he was also investing 
in tax titles. The law in Indiana in regard to these titles is 
somewhat peculiar. You may buy certificates for unpaid taxes 
and sell out and buy in the property — with the allowance of 
enormous usury — and the law provides that the purchaser can 
exact fifteen per cent, for the first six months, even if the redemp- 
tion money is tendered the next day, ten per cent, additional for 
the remainder of the year, and fifteen per cent, for the second 
year. Thereafter, according to a decision of the Supreme Court, 
twenty-five per cent, per annum can be charged for a period of 
twenty years, if the parties are not dead or bankrupt by that 
time, otherwise the tax title becomes absolute. 



TAX DEEDS FROM CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS TO WILLIAM 







Amt Tax 


Date of D 


eed. 


Paid. 


March 22, 


1880. 


..$27 6j... 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 49 o4-.- 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 50 61... 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 25 74... 


March 22, 


.880. 


•• 13 74-- 


March 22, 


iRSo. 


.. 22 00... 


March 22, 


18S0. 


.. 6 70... 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 19 s6... 


March 22, 


1880 


.. 53 12... 


March 22, 


r8«o. 


.. 51 19 .. 


March 22, 


1880. 


..262 8^ .. 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 4086... 


March 22, 


i88o. 


. . 70 02 . . . 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 23 16... 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 12 37... 


March 22, 


1880 


.. 22 00... 


March 22, 


i88o. 


.. 12 38... 


March 22, 


1880. 


..185 04... 


March 22, 


1880. 


.. 81 62.. 


March 22, 




.. 76 79-- 


March 22, 


J 880. 


.. 21 78... 


March 22, 


1880. 




March 22, 


1880. 


.. 42 76... 



H. ENGLISH. 

No. of Book 
Description of Property. of Record. 

.Lot 3, Outlot 150, Ray's subdivision 133 

.Lots 39 and 40, Ray's subdivision 133 

.Lots 87 and 88, Allen's addition 133 

.Lots 58, 59 and 6o, Hanna heirs' addition 133 

.Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris addition 133 

.Lots 23 and 36, WoodrufF subdivision, Morris addition. 133 

.Lots 25 and 232, K.ippt:s' Meridian addition 133 

.Lot 26, Outlot 130, Yande's subdivision 133 

.Lot 233, Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 

.Lot 54, Outlot 108, Ryan's subdivision 133 

.Lots 6, 7, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 
43. 44, 45. 46. 47. 58. ^9, 207, 208, 209, 251, 291, 292, 293, 

294 and 29, Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 

.Lots 253 and 254, Allen's Woodlawn 133 

.Lots 230 and north half of 229, Allen's Woodlawn 133 

.Lot 22, Square 25, Seaton's subdivision 133 

.Lot 56, Outlook 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lots 45 and 49, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lots 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 14, 15, 16, Moore's subdivision 

of Fletcher's addition 133 

.Lot 59, Kappes' addition 133 

.Lots 92, 93, 94, 95, Lewis's subdivision 133 

.Lot 63, (Jutlot 150, McChesney's subdivision. . 133 

.Lot I, Outlot 83, McQuatt's subdivision 133 

.Lot 30, Outlot 159, Ray's subdivision 133 



No. of 
Page. 

360 

363 

36s 

368 

373 

370 

375 

380 
383 



38s 
388 
391 

396 
399 



Atnt. Tax 
Date of Deed. Paid. 

March 22, 1880 fit 00 

March 22, 1880. ... 4 72 

Aprl 18, 1879 73 42 

April 18, 1879 '-3 42 

April 18, 1879 .. .118 55 

Dec. 5, 1876 328 15 

Nov. 20, 1877 91 42 

Nov. 20, 1877 91 42 

Jan. 19, 1878 123 42 

April 18, 1879 65 28 

3, 1879 300 59 

8, 1879 160 17 



April 

April 

Apnl 

April 

April 18, 1S79 

April 18, 1879 

Aprl 18, 1879 

April 18, 1879 

April 18, 1879 

April 18, 1879 

April 18, 1879 

April 18, 1879 24 9 

April 18, 1879. ... 80 63 

April 18, 1879 16 91 

April 18, 1879.... 'S ^3 
April 18,1879 119 78 



879 

8, 1879 35 42 

9 36 
37 2o- 
69 75. 
74 88 
36 12. 
36 89 
37 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



No. o/Book 
Description 0/ Property. 0/ Record. 

.Lots 2 and 74, Allen'.s Woodlawn 133 

.Lot 6, Kappe's addition 133 

.Lot^ 4 and 5, Outlot 9, Blaki's subdivision 125 

.Lots 92, 91, 85, 81, 8j, Outlot 157, Blake's subdivision. ..125 
.Lots I, 5, 6, 14, 16, Sq. 18, Johnson's heirs' add4tion ...125 

.Lot i.Sq. 5 101 

.Lot2,Sq.5i Ill 

.Lot I, Sq. 51 Ill 

.Lot 2, Sq. 5 HI 

.Lots 43, 51, 55, Outlot 167, Blake's subdivision 125 

.W. y^ ;md E. \<i Lot 2, Sq. 51 . 125 

.Lot 4, Sq 35 125 

.Lot 48, Outlot 108, Bryan's subdivision 125 

.Lot II, Outlot 99, Hjndricks' subdivision 125 

.Lot I, Sq 46, Frank's subdivision of Morris' addition. . .125 

.Lot 2, Outlot 99, Dougherty's subdivision 125 

.Lot 3, Outlot 181 , Stevens' subdivision 125 

.Part lot in Outlot 102 125 

.Lot 81, Outlot 89, Bates' subdivision 125 

.Lot in Allen ct al. subdivision 125 

.Lot 20, Outlot 169, Wiley's subdivision 125 

.Lot 175, Allen's subdivision 125 

.Lot 12, Sq. 36 125 

.Lot 44, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 125 

.Lot 26, Patterson's addition 125 

-Lot in City Council and City Com. addition 125 



53 

No.ef 
Page. 
419 



6.3 
255 
253 
260 
263 
263 
263 

27-> 

273 
275 
278 
280 
283 
28s 
288 
290 
293 
318 



TAX DEEDS FROM COUNTY AUDITOR OF MARION 
COUNTY TO WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



April 8, 1879 %2\ 72, 

April 8, 1879 46 00 

April 8, 1879 35 49 

April 8, 1879 39 9D 

April 8, 1879 14 46 

April 8, 1879 II 22 

April 8, 1879 18 32 

April 8, 1879 52 06 

April 8, 1879 21 28 

April 8, 1879 37 58 

Jan. 19, 1878 141 33 

Feb. 26, 1878 82 78 

March 4, 1878. . . . 15 35 

March 4, 1878 57 36 

March 4, 1878 34 93 

Feb. 22, 1878 265 85 

Nov 6, 1878 136 95 

Nov. 6. 1878 iio 61 

Feb. 18, 1879 16 08 

Aug. 11,1879 32 45 

March 8, 1880 25 06 

March 8, 1880 12 29 

March 8, 1880 46 46 

March 8, 1880 32 11 

March 8, i88o 39 50 

March 8, 1880 22 27 

March 8, 1880 20 80 

March 8, 1880 13 85 

March 8, 1880 151 79 



.Lots 253 and 254, Allen's Woodlawn addition 125 

.Lots 81, 8-,, 89. 91, 92, Outlot 167. Blake's subdivision.. .125 

.Lot 85, Wo:idnilT-place 125 

.Lots 41 and 42. Frank's subdivision 125 

.Lot 2, Woodruffs subdivision, Morris' addition 125 

.Lot 18, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' addition 125 

.Lot 26, Patterson's addition 125 

.Lots I, 5, 6, 14, 16, Poole's sub , Johnson's add 125 

.Lot 30. O.itlot 159. Ray's addition 125 

.Lot 133, Allen, et al's addition... 125 

.Loti,Sq.5i Ill 

.Part lot 4, Sq. 38 113 

.Lot 48, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 113 

.Lots 15 and 16, Allen's subdivision, Hendricks' addition. 113 

.Lot 93, Woodruff- place 113 

.Lot 10, Sq. 87 113 

-Lot 2, Sq. 51 118 

.Lot I, Sq. 51 118 

.Lot 16, Outlot loS, Frank's subdivision 128 

.Lots 51 and 52, King's subdivision, Brj'an's addition. .. .128 

.Lots 34 and 35, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lot 57, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lot 23 and north half of 259, Allen's subdivision 133 

.Lots 43, 51 , 55, Outlot 157, Blake's addition 133 

.Lots 87 and 88, Allen's subdivision 133 

.Lots 4 and 12, Sq. 18, Poole's subdivision, Johnson heirs. 133 

.Lot 63, Outlot 150, McCarthy's subdivision 133 

.Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 

.Lots 8, 9, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 
47. 58, 59, 207. 208, 209, 251, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 
Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 



"3 
50* 
274 
292 
296 
300 
30s 
404 
406 
4'3 
4'7 
340 
342 
344 
347 
349 
351 
353 
355 



358 



HIS LIETRIM EVICTIONS. 
The following ejectment writs werg issued by two Justices of 
the Peace during the last two years : there are fourteen Justices 
of the Peace. 



54 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



BEFORE LUKE WALPOLE, J. P. 



1. Wm. H. English vs. A. M. Sherman Cor. Meridian and Circle sts March 3, 1878. 

2. Wm. H. English vs. Nicholas Simpson 346 East Washington street September 24, 1878. 

3. Wm. H. English vs. John Marden ..^ Willard street February 14, 1878. 

4. Wm. H. Engl.sh vs. Cordelius Selden Room 3 English Block January 15, 1878. 

5. Wm. H. English vs. Mary Young 42 Cora street February 15, 1878. 

6. Wm. H. English vs. Fred. Oilman 42 North Noble street February 17, 1878. 

7. Wm. H. English vs. Henry Springstein. . .10 Arch street April 6, 1878. 

8. Wm. H. English vs. Andrew Cook 13 English Block June 13, 1878. 

9. Wm. H. English vs. 'I'om O'SuUivan 11 Engl.sh Block June 13, 1878. 

10. Win. H. English vs. John Emerson 10 English Block June 13, 1878. 

11. Wm. H. English vs. \V. Hatfield 14 English Block June 13, 1878. 

12. Wm. H. English vs. Conrad Hciser 4 English Block June 13, 1878. 

13. Wm. H. English vs. J. C. Keller 16 English Block July 6, 1S78. 

14. Wm. H. English vs. Conrad Heiser 4 English Block July 4, 1878. 

15. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Fullenay 202 English avenue July 9, 1878. 

16. Wm. H. English vs. Henry Coins 117 South Illinois street September 7, 1878, 

17. Wm. H. English vs. Daniel Morgan 236 English avenue September 12, 1878. 

18. Wm. H. English vs. Edith Pair. 112 Deloss street November 9, 1878. 

19. Wm. H. English vs. Ella Taylor 20 North Noble street November 10, 1878. 

20. Wm. H. English vs. Charles HoUins 117 South Illinois street November lo, 1878. 

21. Wm. H. English vs. J. Kelley 247 South Mississippi street January 26, 1878. 

22. Wm. H. English vs. Nathan Thorpe 57 Maxwell street January 30, 1878. 

23. Wm. H. English vs. Theo. Pelton 192 English avenue January 30, 1878. 

24. Wm. H. English vs. Joshua Oale 7 English Block September 2, 1878. 

25. Wm. H. English vs. George W. Birttine . .15 and 16 Circle Hall September 30, i87r 

26. Wm. H. English vs. Samuel Kennedy ... .36 Dougherty street September 21, 187I 

27. Wm. H. English vs. Adam Hartie 218 Blake street September 21, 187! 

28. Wm. H. English vs. Frederick Vincent .. .232 English avenue September 25, 187I 

29. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Mathaur 16S East Market street September 25, 187I 

30. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. A. Moore 262 English avenue September 25, 187! 

31. Wm. H. English vs. Aaron R Crimes 13 and 14 Circle Hall November 12, 187I 

32. Wm. H. English vs. Aaron Kopp 22 North Noble street November 22, 187I 

33. Wm. H. English vs. Jas. D. Anderson. . . .158 English avenue February 18, 1879. 

34. Wm. H. English vs. John F. Stewart 42 Cora street March 26, 1879. 

35. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Annie Barbour. .734 East Washington street.. .. ..February 21, 1879. 

36. Wm. H. English vs. W. J. Flaherty 48 Deloss street March 26, 1879. 

37. Wm. H. English vs. Robt. R. Parnell 276 English avenue April 28, 1879. 

38. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Catherine Hollcr.5 English Block May 8, 1879. 

39. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Allen 7 English Block May 12, 1879. 

40. Wm. H. English vs. James Lamb 202 English avenue May 13, 1879. 

41. Wm. H. English vs. Job McDonald 25 Willow street June 7, 1879. 

43. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. A. Oarrett 59 Elm street July 17, 1879. 

43. Wm. H. English vs. Jacob Osborn 51 Maxwtll street July 17, 1879. 

44. Wm. H. English vs. Miles R. Kelly 51 Maxwell street July 17, 1879. 

45. Wm. H. English vs. Jeremiah Sullivan... .15 D>.los street July 28, 1879. 

46. Wm. H. English vs. George Herd 37 Ross street July 27, 1879. 

47. Wm. H. English vs. Jane Hamilton 23 Coburn street August 2, 1879. 

48. Wm. H. English vs. A. O'Conner 117 West McCarty street Augast 5, 1879. 

Andrew O'Conner was evicted because he owed three dollars rent. He was out of employ- 
ment, and is a sober, industrious man. He had three children, and is now working on the 
Belt Road. 

49. Wm. H. English vs. W. H. Carlisle 214 Dorman street August 5, 1879. 

50. Wm. H. English vs. Thomas McSheehey.io and Press Building August 18, 1879. 

51. Wm. H. English vs. Jerry Colvin 162 East Morris street August 21, 1879. 

52. Wm. H. English vs. Lewis Bailey Lot iq Vagen's subdivision September 9, 1879. 

53. Wm. H. English vs. Michael Hogarty. .. .311 East Court September 24, 1879. 

Michael Hogarty, the " Stone-cutter," is a valued contributor to the Journal. 

54. Wm. H. English vs. Joseph W. Hiers. .. .Pogue's Run and Mississippi st... September 25, 1879, 

Joseph W. Hiers, at the corner of Pogue's Run and Mississippi street. He is living there yet, 
his last sacrifice being a stove, which he sold in order to keep the roof over his head. 

55. Wm. H. English vs. W. H. Bryant 2r4 Dorman street October 15, 1879. 

56. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Ellen English. .50 Circle street October 15, 1879. 

Mrs. Ellen English, the widow of Wm. H. English — a namesake and relative — was ejected 
summarily from No. 50 Circle Hall, directly adjoining the barred window, and this was done 
without the intervention of an agent. 



57. Wm. H. English vs. J. B. Freeland 17 Deloss street October 17, 1879. 

58. Wm. H. English vs. George McNeeley.. .55 Elm street October 21, 1879. 

59. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Badgett .182 Blackford street October 28, 1879. 

60. Wm. H. English vs. George Dorsey 123 Columbia street October 28, 1879. 

BEFORE MARGINS L. JOHNSON, J. P., IN 1880. 

1. Wm. H. English vs. George Harrymyer. .4 Dillon street January 8, 1880 

2. Wm. H. English vs. R. F. Jacks 309 East Court street January 11, 1880. 

3. Wm. H. English vs. Charles Heil 87 Nebraska street March 23, 1880. 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 55 

\' wH!" S' ^"gfl'^I^^^C. F.Thompson.... 3 Diston street April i, 1880. 

I' w S t"^ "t "' fe "t.; ^"'>'"g---52 Deles street April i^, i88o. 

, w'"S t"S'"^"P^''P'-,^"=^=""-- -57 Maxwell street April 19. 1880. 

I yL tJ tng'sh vs. Charles Adams 2,2 Bright street April 26, 1880. 

o' w"" H v"' "k "'• t"'" n- ^c '? "^y "® ^^"'='^'* •''^^«' April 26 ,880. 

'■ w u • ^"^ "u ^'- 4^u- \ Sullivan 23 Coburn street April 27, .880. 

10. YVm. H. tiiglish vs. John Arnold '.Greenwood street May 5, i88o. 

John Arnold, on Greenwood street. He had four children, who were motherless, and the 
house from which he was evicted did not have a pane of glass from foundation to roof. 

11. Wm. H. English vs. C. H. Minshall English Block June 8, 1880. 

This is the partial list of those he evicted. The struggles of 
those who held their homes is best indicated by the following 
affidavit: 

My name is Mary Vansickle. I came from Missouri in 1858. Have lived in 
this house, iio Deloss street, two years; have five children, and I make my living 
by washing. I was paralyzed one year ago last March 30 ; I had to kneel upon a 
chair to wash for a living. Mr. English told me while in that condition not to be 
afraid, as I would not need to pay the rent ; he told me this on Satunlay, and on the 
next Thursday I was served with a notice to quit the house. I had three children 
sick at that time, as well as myself; I was only owing three dollars then, as I had to 
pay in advance always, and the ladies of the Flower Mission Church made up one 
month's rent to me and paid it to Mr. English. Miss Mary Love, a daughter of 
General Love, and Mrs. Eaton, were the ladies who went among the neighbors and 
raised the sum in amounts of ten cents and upwards. Dr. Wishard, the present cor- 
oner of Marion county, went to see Mr. English and his agent at that time, to gain 
some time for me, and they both said they would put me out. 

We have had very scanty living, in order to keep up the rent; but I would rather 
miss a meal, or several, than to be without a shelter. They came with a ten days' 
notice to quit, and further he told me individually, that he would wait no longer. 
There were only three dollars due at that time, and, as I said before, I was com- 
pelled to pay in advance. My oldest son, fourteen years, was too sick to be out of 
bed at the time, and he was the only one of my children old enough to work. 

Mary A. Vansickle. 

Before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public, personally appeared the above- 
named Mary A. Vansickle, and made oath to the foregoing statement, this 23d day 
of August, 1880. Will. H. Martz. 

[Seal] 

THE DAMNING RECORD'S END. 

The following is a list of the properties which he bought at 
the sheriff's sale under his mortgages/ together with the prices 

» A mortgage to secure several promissory notes conditioned with that if there is 
a failure to meet the first or any subsequent note, the notes shall all become imme- 
diately due, and foreclosure with interest and attorney's fees on each note. 



56 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



he paid for them, and the appraised value of each property at 
the time of the sale. 

The assessment is the lowest for fifteen years ; at least ten 
per cent, should be added to it to get an approximative value 
of the property. 



The ami. he fiaid 

to Sheriff. Description of Property. 

(Lot 19, Oiitlot 17 Ji, 

^1,134 o9-< Lot 20, Oiiilot 17 1, 

(.Part lot 21, Outlet 17 

800 00... Lot 233, Allen et al. Woodlawn addition 

0^ ( Lot 221, do do do 

\ Lot 222, do do do 

2,600 00. ..Lot 317, Outlets 97 and 98 

5,543 96... Part lot 4, Sq. 35 

635 91. ..Lot 32, Woodrutl-place 

633 97... Lot 176, Woodruff-place 

72 61. ..Lot 13, Master's sub., Drake et al. 2d add. 



632 41. 



Part lots 1 and 2, Sq 
Lot J I, Frank's subd 



63. 



Lot 12, 
Lot 13, 
Lot 14, 
Lot 15, 
Lot 16, 
Lot 17, 
Lot 18, 
Lot 19, 
Lot 20, 



858 52. ..South half lot 30, Wiley's sub., Outlot 10, etc . 

1,795 02... Part lot 12, Sq. 36 

5,300 CO.. .Lots I and 2, Sq. 51 

300 00. ..Lot 18, Woodruff's sub., Morris" add 



250 
250 
250 
250— 



1,750 00... Lot 85, Woodruff-place. 

. ^^\ Lot 14, Sq. I, Wright's Northside addition. 
5°°°tLoti5, do do do 

360 00... Lot 7, Frank's So. Meridian ^t add 

363 01. ..Lot 175, Allen and Root's addition 

«4,i85 92. ..Part lot 10, Sq. 87 

l,2»» 51 \ Lot „_ o L. 103 

976 14... Lot 48, O. L. 103, Frank and Root's subdivi 
, ,;,„ J Lot 87, Allen and Root's addition 

I.DOO 00 ■< t . 00 J J 

' ( Lot 88, do do 

395 20... Lot 26, Patterson's addition 



3,026 00 



.Lot 25, Kappe's and N. So. 
I... Lot 59, do do 

...Lot 232, do do 

/Lot 27,0. L. 108 

't Lot 28, O. L. 108 

>...PartO. L. 102 

Lot I, Tool's sub., Johnson's heirs add. 

Lot 4, do 

Lot 5, do 

Lot 6, do 

Lot 12, do 

Lot 14, do 

Lot 16, do 



cridian st. add... 
do 
do 



do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

^ , — do do 

J Lot 2, Allen's et al. Woodlawn 

(Lot 24, do do do 

400 00... Lot I, Woodruff's sub., Morris' add 

965 48... Lot 30, O. L. 159 

150 00... Lot 6, Kappe's and N. So. Meridian st. add. 
1,500 00... Part lot 41 and 42 Spann & Co.'s subdivisi( 

ouiloti68 

500 00... Part lot 10, Kappe's et al. addition 

•7,000 00... Part lot 10, Sq. 56 



600 

600 

600 

600 

600 

600— 

400 



$2,300 00 
850 00 

1,500 00 
1,800 00 
6,500 00 
2,000 00 
1,500 00 
100 00 
15,000 00 



Bal. in favor 
0/ Ensliih. 



$1,165 9' 
50 00 



700 00 



500 00 
2,250 00 
i2,6oo 00 

600 00 
2,400 00 

160 00 

360 00 



2,400 00 

550 00 

200 00 
no 00 
100 00 



800 00 

400 eo 

1,000 90 



1,500 00 

620 00 

28,500 00 



956 04 

1,364 09 

866 03 

27 39 

14,368 59 



454 98 

7,300 00 

300 00 

650 00 



800 00 
154 80 
25 00 
85 00 
50 00 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



The amt. he paid 
to Sheriff. 



Description of Property. 
Lot 43, Blake's subdivision, Outlots 166 and 167.. i.-X'ja 
Lot 51, do do 

Lot 55, do do 

Lot 80, do do 

Lot 81, do do 

Lot 85, do do 



Appraised 
Value. 



689 26... Lot 3, outlet, Ray'i 



350 
350 
350 
350 
350— 



subdivision qcq 



Lot 92, Lewis & Co.'s sub., Bryant's add. 

Lot 93, do do do \qo 

Lot 94, do do do 300 

lx)t JO, Sq. 14, Star addition 75 

Lot 2, Terry et al. sub., Outlots 140 and 141 17,350 

Lot 3, do do 20,050 



do 



Part lot 4, do 

Part lot 6, Sq. 36. 

Lot 76, Dunlap et al. sub., Morris' add 

Lot 4, Outlots 107 and 108, Brown et al. sub.. 
Lot 71, do 107 and 108 do 

Lot 6, Kappe's et al. south addition 320 

Lot 23, Roset's subdivision, Outlot 107 600 

Part lot 24, do do 150 

Lot 8, Indianapolis Car Co., first add 300 



9.475 

31,000- 

360 



400 



Lot 9, 


do 


Lot 10, 


do 


Lot 11, 


do 


Lot 12. 


do 


Lot 13, 


do 


Lot .4, 


do 



800 00... Lot II, Outlot 99 

1,650 00... Lot 3, Steven's subdivision, Outlot 181 

200 00... Lot 237, Kappe's and N. So. Meridian st. add 

f Lot 13, Losier & S. Highland Park add 250 

529 60 •! Lot 14, do do 250 

[Lot 15, do do 250 — 

957 09... Part lot 19, Vayons' add 

„, ^ f Lot 25, H. M. & Mc. S. E. addition 500 

7*^°° (Lot 26, do do 500- 

700 00... Part lot 44, Outlot 108 

500 00. ..Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' add 

f Part lot 58, Hanna's heirs addition 

1,200 00-1 Part lot 59, do do 

(.Part lot 60, do do — 

' Lot 5, Outlot 9 700 

Lot 5j^ and 4, Outlot 9 350 

Lot 91, Blake's sub., Outlots 166 and 167 300 

Lot 92, do do 400— 

.Lot 63, McChesney's sub., Outlot 150 

700 00... Lot 130, Allen & Root's addition 

jc,.^ ,„ J Lot 26, Woodruff and Morris' add 600 

'^^°tLot36, do do 600- 

469 93... Lot 81, Outlot 89 

3,435 01. ..Part lot 2, I. & C. R. R. Co.'s add 

1,000 00... lot 8, Allen, Root & English's Woodlawn... 

addition 400 



Do 9, 


do 


Do 19, 


do 


Do 20, 


do 


Do 21, 


do 


Do 22, 


do 


Do 23, 


do 


Do 26. 


do 


Do 27, 


do 


Do 28, 


do 


Do 39, 


do 


Do 40, 


do 


Do 41, 


do 


Do 42, 


do 


Do 43. 


do 


Do 44. 


do 


Do 45, 


do 


Do 46. 


do 


Do 47. 


do 


Do 58, 


do 


Do 59, 


do 


Do 207, 


do 



400 
400 
400 
400 
400 
400 
400 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
350 
450 



^2,100 00 
950 00 



78,850 ( 



57 

Bal. in/avor 
0/ English. 



$270 74 



78,845 



258 



X,200 00 
1,300 00 
8,100 00 



509 80 

830 67 

4,664 99 



5B 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



ITie antt . he paid Appraised Bal. in favor 
to Sheriff. Description of Property. Value. of Engiish. 
Lot 208, Allen, Root & English's Wood- 
lawn addition ^50 

do 209, do 450 

do 250, do i>450 

do 251, do 450 

do 291, do 400 

do 292, do 400 

do 293, do 400 

do 294, do 400 

do 295, do 400 

Int. in Lot 48, do 750 

do 49, do 400 

do 106, do 1,100 ^ 

do 107, do 250 

do 108, do 250 

do 109, do 250 

do no, do 250 

do III, do 250 

do 112, do 250 

do 113, do 250 

do 114, do 250 

do 115, do 250 

do 117, do 250 

do 118, do 250 

do 119, do 250 

do 120, do 300 $18,65000 Jl 17,650 00 

^,248 79. ..Part of Lot 4, Square 60 4,30000 2,051 21 

900 00... Lot 15, Allen's sub. Henderson's add 600) ,__ 

^ do 16, do 6oo| ''^°°°° 30000 

674 44... do 4, West's heirs' addition « 900 1 o 

do 5, do 900/ '•'*°° °° 

do 6, do 2,700 00 3,825 56 

959 65... do 3, Elliott sub. Henderson's add 1,400 00 440 35 

1,299 87... Lot 5, Elliott's sub'n Henderson' ad'n 1,400 00 100 13 

400 00... Lot 18, Sq. 22, Sangster et al.. Oak Hill _ 35 00 

aoo 00... Lot 12, Moore's sub'n, H. E. F., third add'n 200 

Lot 13, do do do do 200 400 00 200 00 

100 00. ..Lot 4, do do do do 200 200 00 100 00 

2,622 69... Pt. Lot 16, F. & R. subd'n, Outlot 108 900 00 

600 00. ..Lot 36, Ouilot 130, Yande's subdivision 600 00 

400 00... Lot 232, A. R. & E., Woodlawn addition 800 00 400 00 

2,630 00... Lot 16, King's subd'n, Bryan's addition 400 

Lot 17, do do do do 400 

Lot 18, do do do do 400 

Lot 19, do do do do 400 

Lot 20, do do do do 400 

Lot 21, do do do do 400 

Lot 22, do do do do 400 

Lot 23, do do do do 400 

Lot 26, do do do do 400 

Lot 27, do do do do 400 

Lot 29, do do do do 400 

Lot 30, do do do do 400 

Lot 31, do do do do 400 

Lot 32, do do do do 400 

Lot 33, do do do do 400 

Lot 34, do do do do 400 

Lot 35, do do do do 400 „. 

Lot 36, do do do do 400 „. 

Lot 37, do do do do 400 

Lot 25, do do do do 450 „. 

Lot 63, do do do do 500 

Lot 64, do do do do 400 

Lot 65, do do do do 600 

Lot 66, do do do do 400 

Lot 67, do do do do 400 

Lot 69, do do do do 400 

Lot 72, do do do do 400 

Lot 73, do do do do 400 - 

Lot 74, do do do do 400 - 

Lot 76, do do do do 500 

Lot 77, do do do do 400 

Lot 78, do do do do 400 

Lot 79, do do Jo do 400 

Lot 80, do do do do 400 

Lot 81, do do do do 400 - 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



59 



Th^ amt . he paid Apfirahed Bal. in favor 

to Sheriff. Description 0/ Property. ^alue. 0/ English. 

Lot 84, King's subd'n, Bryan's addition J400 

Lot 85, do do do do 400 

Lot 86, do do do do 400 

Lot 88, do do do do 500 ^10,150 00 $13,520 00 

^00 00. ..Lot 23, Frank & R.'s subdivision, Outlet 108 » 400 00 

500 00... Lot 22, Sq. 25, Seaton's suixl'n, Johns' heirs add'n 

800 00... Lot 17, Frank iic R.'s subd'n, Outlots 107-8 550) 

Lot 18, do do do do 400/ 

6,500 00... Pt. Lot 2, Square 19 

406 67... Lot 229, Allen et al., Woodlawn 9°o) 

Lot 230, do do 900 j 

2,638 51. ..Pt. Lots 55 and 56. Outlot 100 

600 00. ..Lot I, Moore's Sub. A. E. F.'s addition 200 

do 2, do 200 

do 5, do 200 

do 6, do 200 

do 8, do 200 

do 9, do 200 

do 10, do 200 

do ti, do 2eo 

3,268 83. ..Lot I, King's Arsenal Heighu addition 600 

do 2, do 400 



600 00 


100 00 


950 00 


150 00 


10,400 00 


3,900 00 


1,80000 


1,393 33 


3,300 00 


66. 49 



63 



do 3, do 400 

do 4, do 400 

do 5, * do 400 

do 6, do 400 

do 7, do 400 

do 8, do 40a 

do 9, do 400 

do 12, do 500 

do 39, do 500 

do 40, do 400 

do 41, do 400 

do 42, do 400 

do 43, do 400 

do 44, do 40a 

do 45, do 400 

do 46, do 400 

do 47, do 400 

do 48, do 400 

do 49, do 40a 

do 30, do 400 

do 51, do 400 

do 52, do 400 

do 53, do 400 

do 54, do 400 



do 55, do 400 

do 56, do 400 

do 57, do 40a 

do 58, do 400 

do 59, do 400 

do 60, do 400 

do 61, do 500 

do 62, do 500 

do 89, do 400 

do 90, do 400 

do 91, do 400 

do 92, do 400 

do 93, do 400 

do 94, do 400 

do 95, do 400 

do 96, do 400 

do 97, do 400 

do 98, do 400 

do 99, do 400 

do 100, do 400 19,000 00 

...Lots 38 to 60 in've, Davis' Sugar Grove adn 60 1,32000 

... do 85, do do 60") 

... do 91, do do 60 I 

... do 92, do do 60 I 

... do 93, do do 60 j- 420 00 

i.^^ ... do 94, do do 60 

.5?* ... do 95, do do 60 

«i ^ ... do 96, do do 6o j 

^■Ji ... do 100 to 108 in've, do do 60 4800a 

... do 133 to 156 in've, do do 60 1,380 00 



6o WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 



The aint 
to Slu 

1 

1,600 


he paid 

riff. Description 0/ Property. 
...Lots 181 to 192 in've, Davis" Sugar Grove adn.. 
... do zoo to 204 in've, do do 
... do 229 do do 
... do 236 to 245 in've, do do 
... do 277 to 283 inVe, do do 
... do 289 to 300 in%e, do do 
... do 325 to 348 in've, do do 
... do 373 to 378 in've, do do 
... do 301 to 384 in've, do do 
oo—Lot 14, outlot 13, Terry etal.,sub 

19 

essed value of the property 

lount paid by English to the Sheriff 


....60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 


Appraised 
Value. 

660 00 
240 00 
6o 00 
540 00 

1,380 00 
30000 

240 00 
3,000 00 

$324,800 00 


Bal 
o/L 


iii/:iTor 
n^lish. 














8,040 00 
1,400 00 


$129,293 

The ass 
Less an 


$324,800 00 
$129,293 19 

$195,506 81 



Say ;^200,ooo, out of the desolate homes, and lives, and labors 
of his fellow-human beings, of Marion county, in the State of 
Indiana. 

And this man is, on the fourth day of March next, to walk 
up the white steps of the capitol in the face of the world, arm 
in arm with General Winfield Scott Hancock, in all his military 
glory as a representative man of fifty millions of freemen, and 
of the free institutions of the United States. 

But this is not the whole result. The judgments with costs, 
attorney's fees, gold premium, etc., held by him against these 
wretched people, amount to, in exact figures, $343,867.91, so 
that after getting these properties — their homes, places of 
business, earnings, etc., he still held against them as follows: 

Whole amount of debt $343,867 91 

Less amount paid for the properties ...... $129,293 19 

Balance . . . • $214,574 72 

to be gotten out of their properties, or hang over them for the 
remainder of their lives. 

But let us go one step further to the end. There are but few 
men who have no redeeming qualities. The Vanderbilt, the 
Stewart, the Goulds, however close business men, have left from 
time to time in their lives, and in their deaths, records of benev- 
olence. . This man is incapable of benevolence. Human 



WILL/AM H. ENGLISH. 5; 

suffering cries against his heart as you speak into an echoless 
depth : it is less responsive than a stone. I will prove this 
assertion. Of all the great calamities which have struck our 
common humanity from time to time with a sudden sympathy 
and sorrow, the Chicago fire has no parallel. It was universal 
in every hut, and house, and palace in the world. In the West 
everything measures itself by the vastness of its plains, its 
mountain ranges, its continent dividing rivers, Man reaches there 
the highest eminence. It has given the world Lincoln's name 
— the synonym of a god-like human sympathy. It might seem 
that human meanness could not exist there. In that city where 
English lived a committee was at once formed — supplies, goods 
and money to the amount of thousands of dollars, raised. The 
committee went to him— the lord of that city. He was the 
wealthiest name — the most prominent name. He subscribed — he 
gave to the cause that made a single heart beat for humanity. 
He gave One Dollar, The committee reported this subscrip- 
tion. The fact became known to many. The indignation was so 
great that the interests of the bank were being endangered. 
The report was made to him. He sent for the committee and 
made the subscription ;^ioo, Victor Hugo gives us, in Cram- 
bonne's language, the final word for this ignoble history of a 
human life. It is untranslatable into our language. 



62 .. WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 

HANCOCK AND THE HERALD. 

The New York Herald, which has traversed Africa and the 
Modoc country, and is getting up toward the pole, failed to 
break his impenetrable silence on the business of the Sheriff's 
sales. 

" Silent Mr. English," the reporter says, " having dismissed 
his visitor vouchsafed his attention to the Herald. It was evi- 
dent that he knew not only how to keep his mouth shut, but he 
intended to utilize his knowledge. In vain he was requested to 
speak to the public concerning the so-called loans and mort- 
gages of which so much had been printed and spoken. 

" I will not open my mouth on the subject — I will not digriify 
the matter by a denial. The whole thing is a tissue of lies con- 
cocted by a man who is a land-forger, and is out of jail to-day 
because he is said to be out of his head." — New York Herald, 
September ii, 1880. 

"The subject " referred to is the list of properties certified toby 
the township Assessor and the Clerk of the Superior Court of 
Marion County, on the 21st day of August, as given in this vol- 
ume. It was then represented to Mr. English that while he might 
not care personally to take the trouble to deny the allegation 
and confute the allegator, the publication and reiteration of 
the charges of the cruel foreclosures were hurting the Demo- 
cratic party, and the colum^is of the Herald were open to him 
for anything he cared to say or write ; but it was useless, he 
absolutely refused. Mr. English was very vehement in his 
refusal to be interviewed on the subject. He facetiously asked 
" What do the people in the East do with mortgages when they 
are due — Burn them ? " He said, " I am a business man and do 
business on business principles. I would not alter a hair's 
breadth in my line of life for five hundred political offices. I 
refuse the Herald respectfully but firmly." He showed me his 
house and the iron-barred window. Again I referred to the desira- 
bility of Mr. English saying something which could be used by 
the Eastern papers and speakers, but one might just as well have 
tried to move the Egyptian obelisk on a bob-tailed street car; 



WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^^ 

he was absolutely immovable. "No, sir; I have been hand- 
ling money, millions of it, in the past twenty years. In fact I 
have been a business machine." — New York Herald, September 
II, 1880. 

A Word in Conclusion. — General Hancock has, after a long 
silence, said, in his letter to Theodore Cook (September 23, 
1880): "So far as it touches me" {i.e., the payment of the 
Southern War Claims), " I denounce it. Nor could I be induced 
to approve or encourage the payment of such debt, pension or 
reward." This is said in the soldier's spirit — less than that he 
could not say — but that is not the question — let him answer this 
question : he will, if elected, be the executive officer of the 
country, not the legislative; will he, if such legislation be effected, 
refuse to carry out that legislation ? Will he not, as he has 
done before, sink the personal sentiment for the obligation of 
the office as his position would then demand ? It is not neces- 
sary to wait his answer: his past record has given that 

ANSWER TO THE COUNTRY. 



THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 787 661 9 



